ORDER :

Leave granted.

The short question that falls for consideration in this appeal that arises out of an order passed by the High Court of Guwahati is whether the petitioners could be prosecuted on the assumed principle of vicarious liability of top management of a company for the offence of forgery committed by those working at the lower echelons. The legal position on the subject is, in our opinion, fairly well settled by the decisions of this Court that have authoritatively declared that except in situations where the Statute itself creates a vicarious liability and makes prosecution on that basis legally permissible, the law does not generally provide for such prosecution. This Court in Maksud Saiyed v. State of Gujarat and Ors., (2008)5 SCC 668 first examined the question of vicarious liability in criminal cases and summed up the legal position in the following words :

"Where a jurisdiction is exercised on a complaint petition filed in terms of Section 156(3) or Section 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Magistrate is required to apply his mind. The Penal Code does not contain any provision for attaching vicarious liability on the part of the Managing Director or the D