2011(3) Crimes 684 (Uttar)
SHORT NOTE
UTTARAKHAND HIGH COURT
B.S. Verma, J.
Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd.
and Ors. —Applicants
versus
M/s. Mata Garg and Co.
and Anr. —Opp. Parties
Criminal Misc. Application No. 20 of 2004
Decided on 8.6.2010

IMPORTANT POINT
Protection by way of sanction under Section 197 of Cr.P.C. is not applicable to officers of Government Companies or public undertakings.

Headnote:(i) Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881—Sections 138 and 139 read with Sections 93 and 141—Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Section 482—Dishonour of cheque—Quashing application—Cheque returned with stop payment remark—Respondent had not issued statutory notice under Section 93— For want of statutory notice to accused complaint under Section 138 cannot be proceeded with against appellants—Summoning order applicants not tenable in eye of law—Application partly allowed. (Paras 25 to 29)

       (ii) Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Section 197—Sanction for prosecution—Protection by way of sanction under Section 197 is not applicable to officers of Government Companies or public undertakings even when such public undertakings are State.

       Held: So far as the contention of the learned counsel for the applicants that the applicant No.2 Mr. R.K. Verma, the then Managing Director had issued the cheque in question in the discharge of his official duty and he being a public servant, sanction for his prosecution has not been obtained is concerned, I do not find any force in this contention. In my considered view, protection by way of sanction under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is not applicable to the officers of Government Companies or the public undertaking even when such public undertakings are state. I am fortified in my view by the Apex Court judgment in the case of Mohd. Hadi Raja v. State of Bihar & Anr.3; wherein the Apex Court in Para 27 has observed that the protection by way of sanction under Section197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is not applicable to the officers of Government companies or the public undertaking even when such public undertakings are “state” within the meaning of Article12 of the Constitution on account of deep and pervasive control of the Government. (Para 27)