JUDGMENT

A.S.ANAND, J.

(1) LEAVE granted.

(2) BOTH these appeals raise a common question of law and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(3) THE admitted facts, which alone are relevant for the purpose of these appeals and are not in dispute are that the appellants in both the cases are the legal heirs of the employees/officers who died in harness while serving with the respective respondent-Company. The employees concerned in both the cases had been allotted premises during their service by their respective employer (respondent-Company) and on the failure of the appellants to hand over the vacant possession of the allotted premises after the demise of the employee/officer concerned, prosecutions were launched against them (legal heirs) under Section 630 of the Companies Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"). The appellants approached the High court through petitions under Section 482 Criminal Procedure Code seeking quashing of the proceedings on the ground that the provisions of Section 630 of the Act cannot be invoked against the legal heirs of a deceased employee, who had died in harness, and as such the complaint against