68. Notice to attend court

Where the Commissioner has reasonable grounds for believing that a person has committed an offence under this Part, the Commissioner may, in lieu of applying to a court for a summons, serve upon that person a prescribed notice requiring that person to attend at the court described, at the hour and on the date specified in the notice.

A duplicate of the notice must be prepared by the Commissioner and, if so required by a court, produced to the court.

The notice may be served on the person alleged to have committed the offence in the same manner as the service of a summons under section 116 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010.

On an accused person appearing before a court pursuant to a notice under subsection (1), the court is to take cognisance of the offence alleged, and is to proceed as though the accused person were produced before it pursuant to section 153 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010.

If a person upon whom a notice has been served under subsection (1) fails to appear before a court in person or by counsel on the date required by that notice, the court may, if satisfied that the notice was duly served, issue a warrant for the arrest of the person unless, in the case of an offence which may be compounded, that person has before that date been permitted to compound the offence.

Upon a person arrested pursuant to a warrant issued under subsection (5) being produced before a court, the court is to proceed as though the person were produced before it pursuant to section 153 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010.

The Commissioner may, at any time before the date specified in the notice under subsection (1), cancel the notice.