Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940
Section 18(a)(i), 16, 27(d) & 34—Liability of directors of company—Order of summoning—Challenged—Order of issuance of process is not an empty formality—Magistrate is required to apply his mind as to whether sufficient ground for proceeding exists in the case or not—Formation of such an opinion is required to be stated in the order itself—Order is liable to be set aside if no reasons are given therein while coming to the conclusion that there is a prima facie case against the accused—No doubt, that the order need not contain detailed reasons—No reason mentioned in support of the order of the issuance of process—Leaving aside there being no reasons in support of the order of the issuance of process, as a matter of fact, it is clear from the order of the High Court, that there was no such order passed at all— Single Judge of the High Court, based on the record, has presumed that there was an order of issuance of process—Such an approach is unsustainable in law—Appeal deserves to be allowed.
[Paras 26, 28 & 30]
Section 18(a)(i), 16, 27(d) & 34—Liability of directors of company—Order of summoning—Challenged—Submission that Section 34 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act specifically provides that only such person who, at the time of the commission of the offence, was in charge of, and was responsible to the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly—Simply because a person is a director of the company it does not necessarily mean that he fulfils both the requirements so as to make him liable—In Form No. 28, the ninth accused was approved as a person under whose active direction and personal supervision the manufacture would be conducted as required under sub-rule (1) of Rule 76 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules—Tenth accused was approved as a head of testing unit—Second to eighth accused have nothing to do as per complaint and summoning order qua them liable to be set aside—Appeal allowed.
[Paras 14, 16, 24 & 25]