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TMI Blog2020 (1) TMI 798X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in short " the Act" ) 2 Respondent / Company has filed a complaint under section 138 of the Act against ten accused persons on behalf of the Lakhani India Ltd ( in short " the Company") stating that the accused company is engaged in the business of production of footwear etc and the complainant / the Company is doing business of supplying raw materials to such type of companies. It is alleged in the complaint that the complainant / Company had supplied the raw materials to the accused / Company on various dates against which, there is an outstanding of Rs. 22,02,150/- against the Company, against which the accused Company had issued three different cheques drawn on the Bank of India, Branch RNT Marg, Indore. When the said cheques were pre ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not been filed against the present petitioner in her individual capacity nor any specific role assigned against her. Learned counsel has further relied upon section 141(1) of the Act and according to which, if the person committing an offence under sction 138 of the Act is a company, every person, who , at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of and was responsible to the company for the conduct of the business of the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence. Learned counsel further argued that the petitioner isan sleeping director of the Company and not involved in day to day affairs of the Company. He further relied upon the judgment delivered by Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Gunmala Sales Pvt Ltd Vs. A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... petitioner. 5 Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the records. 6 In the present case, the respondent has filed a complaint against the petitioner under section 138 of the Act and that after considering the avernments made in the complaint, the Court below has taken cognizance in the matter and issued summons to the petitioner. Being aggrieved by that, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition under section 482 of Cr.P.C for quashment of the proceedings. The petitioner is one of the Director in the Company. Section 141(1) of the N.I. Act deals with the offenses committed by the companies, which reads as under : Section 141 Offences by companies - if the person committing an offence under section 138 of the A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an also be made liable under Section 141(2) by making necessary averments relating to consent and connivance or negligence, in the complaint, to bring the matter under that sub-section. 8 As per the said judgment, there should be an avernment in the complaint that the accused was incharge of and responsible to the company for the conduct of business of the company, is necessary to bring the case under section 141(1) of the Act and no further avernment would be necessary in the complaint. In the present case also, from perusal of the complaint, it reveals that only false statement has been made against the petitioner and no particulars regarding involvement of the accused person in the complaint has been made out. Similarly, in the case of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onduct of the business at the time of commission of an offence will be liable for criminal action [See : Pooja Ravinder Devidasani v. State of Maharashtra (2014) 16 SCC 1 : AIR 2015 SC 675]. 10 In other words, the law laid down by this Court is that for making a Director of a Company liable for the offences committed by the Company under Section 141 of the Act, there must be specific averments against the Director showing as to how and in what manner the Director was responsible for the conduct of the business of the Company. 9 In light of the aforesaid judgments, criminal proceedings against the present petitioner would amount to abuse of process of law and therefore, present petition filed under secton 482 of Cr.P.C is allowed and th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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