Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881
Sections 138 & 141—Dishonour of cheque—Offence by company—Petition to quash summoning order—As far as the requirement of law under Section 141 of the NI is concerned, the complainant has fulfilled the basic criteria of carving out the role of present petitioner in the complaint, for the commission of offence under Sections 138 and 141 of Negotiable Instruments Act—Further, as per the Company Master Data filed by the complainant before the Trial Court, the petitioner was a part of the Company on the date the alleged offence took place and when the complaint was filed before the Trial Court—In such circumstances, the contentions of petitioner that he had already resigned from the Company prior to dishonour of cheque and that his resignation was not accepted because of which his name continued to appear on the ROC records, cannot be accepted at this stage, since prime facie, the material on record reflects the petitioner to be the Chief Executive Officer of Company at the time of commission of offence—High Court, in a petition under Sec. 482 CrPC cannot decide the genuineness of such records, and these contentions of petitioner can be raised and appropriately dealt with during the course of trial—No case for quashing of complaint against petitioner is made out—Petition dismissed.
[Paras 13, 14 & 15]