Chief Justice, J. This petition has been placed before the Full Bench for considering the question about interpretation of Section 145 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 read with Sections 118, 138, 139, 142, 143 and 146 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for short referred to as “NI Act”) and its interplay with Section 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short referred to as “CrPC”). 2. Shortly put, the question is - “whether, in view of the provisions of Section 145 NI Act (added by Act No.55 of 2002), a Metropolitan Magistrate or Judicial Magistrate, First Class, taking up a complaint under Section 138 of the NI Act, along with documents in support thereof and a verification made in the affidavit in support of the complaint, is still obliged to examine on oath the complainant and his witnesses before issuing process on the complaint?

3. The reference has been made as the learned Single Judge expressed the prima facie view that the judgment of a learned Single Judge of this Court in Amarnath Baijnath Gupta and another vs Mohini Organics Pvt Ltd and another, 2009 ALL MR CRI 184 = 2009 Crl LJ 995 and the judgment of a Division Bench of this Court in Maharaja Developers and another vs Udaysing s/o Pratapsinghrao Bhonsale and another, 2007 ALL MR CRI 1339 = 2007 Crl LJ 2207 require reconsideration inasmuch as the said Benches have held that provisions of Section 145 of the NI Act would not have an over-riding effect over the provisions of Section 200 of Cr PC, and in so far as the said judgments have held that before issuing process under Section 200 CrPC, it is mandatory for the Magistrate to examine the complainant, who has filed the complaint under Section 138 of the NI Act, even though the complaint has been filed along with verification on solemn affirmation.

4. The learned Single Judge, while referring the matter to the Full Bench, also made the following observations in the order dated 20th September 2010:-

“4. Large number of cases have been filed in this Court for quashing complaints on account of improper verification. There are 3,44,000 cases pending in the City of Mumbai alone and about 7,00,000 cases pending in the State of Maharashtra. The judgment in the case of Amarnath Baijnath Gupta (supra) was passed since it was brought to the notice of this Court that verification statements are not recorded in a proper manner and mechanically process is being issued by the learned Magistrates. Under these circumstances, various guidelines were laid down in the case of Amarnath Baijnath Gupta (supra). However, by that time, in almost, most of the matters which were filed at that time, the practice of accepting affidavits in lieu of examination of the complainant was followed in the State of Maharashtra. As a result of the judgment of Amarnath Baijnath Gupta (supra), large number of cases are being filed here for quashing all those cases.”

FACTS

5. The short facts leading to filing of the writ petition are as under:- Respondent No.2 M/s Emco Dynatorq Pvt Ltd (formerly known as Emco Lenze Pvt Ltd) filed a complaint against M/s Champagne Indage Ltd (now called Indage Vintners Ltd.), its Managing upa 5 fb-cri-wp2523-10 Director Mr. Ranjit S. Chougule and its Chief Financial Officer Mr. Rajesh Chalke in the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class at Thane (Case No.4743 of 2009) under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 pointing out that it was formerly known as M/s Emco Lenze Pvt Ltd and is engaged in the business of manufacturing of various electro magnetic clutches, brakes, clutch-brakes, etc. for their different clients as per their requirement. Accused No.1 is a company with its registered office at Worli, Mumbai and that accused Nos.2 and 3 are Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer respectively and, therefore, they being in-charge, they are controlling the day to day affairs and management of accused company. The complainant further stated that it had given R