JUDGMENT

A.P. Sen, E.S. Venkataramiah & L.M. Sharma, JJ-. After hearing Shri S.K. Kapoor, learned counsel appearing for respondent no. 1 in Criminal Appeals Nos. 251-252 of 1986 at quite some length, we are not persuaded to take a view different from the one expressed by this Court in the recent judgment in Baldev Krishna Sahi v. Shipping Corporation of India Ltd. & Anr.1 overruling the judgment of the Calcutta High Court in Amrit Lal Chum v. Devi Ranjan Jha2 as to the scope and effect of sub-s.(1) of S. 630 of the Companies Act, 1956. The Court in Baldev Krishna Sahi's case has placed a beneficent construction on the provisions contained in sub S.(1) of 630 of the Act and according to it the term 'officer or employee' in sub S. (1) of S. 630 must be interpreted to mean not only the present officers and employees of a company but also to include the past officers and employees of the company. It has also taken the view that the words 'any such property' in cl. (b) thereof qualify the words 'any property of a company' appearing in cl. (a). As observed in Baldev Krishna Sahi's case, S. 630 of the Act plainly makes it an offence if an officer of employee of a company who was permitted