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PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT
Raj Shekhar Attri, J.
Gopi Ram Jain —Petitioner
versus
Attar Singh —Respondent
CRM-M-14159-2017 (O&M), CRM-M-14141-2017, CRM-M-14142-2017, CRM-M-14148-2017, CRM-M-14150-2017, CRM-M-14160-2017, CRM-M-14201-2017, CRM-M-14253-2017, CRM-M-14359-2017, CRM-M-34889-2017, CRM-M-34890-2017, CRM-M-34891-2017, CRM-M-34892-2017, CRM-M-34893-2017, CRM-M-34894-2017, CRM-M-34895-2017, CRM-M-34897-2017, CRM-M-34898-2017, CRM-M-28880-2017, CRM-M-39817-2017, CRM-M-42996-2017
Decided on 24.1.2019
For the Petitioner:Mr. Karanvir Singh Khehar, Advocate
For the Respondent:Mr. Jai Singh Yadav, Advocate
IMPORTANT POINT
Dishonour of cheque—Offence by company—Whether a director is an active member and participated in the affairs of a Company is a matter of fact.
Headnote:Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 – Sections 138 and 141 – Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 – Section 482 – Dishonour of cheque – Offence by company – Summoning of accused to face trial – Petitioner was active Director of Company and he was absolved of duties much after dishonour of cheques – Whether a director is an active member and participated in the affairs of a Company is a matter of fact – Different kinds of duties and acts have been allocated to directors – Company has to establish by leading cogent evidence that a particular director was given a particular duty – Even if a partner has been absolved of the duties, it must be mentioned in memorandum of articles and other documents of Company – These facts can be proved only by leading evidence during trial – Instead of making payment of sale consideration, Company itself has tried to set up criminal law in motion by writing complaint to Police for registration of FIR against hapless farmers – Company and its directors want to harass them even by using extra-judicial and extra-legal methodology – Nothing has been placed on the record to show that sale deed was executed on mutual understanding of vendors and that of Company or that Company will include this land in its colony and after development of project, consideration will be paid by post-dated cheques as per details mentioned in sale deed – No case is made out to quash impugned complaints and summoning orders – Petitions dismissed with special costs of Rs. 50,000/-. (Paras 30, 31, 36 and 39)
Result: Petitions dismissed with costs.
Raj Shekhar Attri, J.—This order shall dispose of the bunch of aforesaid 22 petitions as common questions of law and facts are involved in all of them. The facts are extracted from CRM-M-14159-2017 for presence of convenience and the parties would be referred by their status in this petition.
2. The present petition (CRM-M-14159-2017) has been filed under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure for quashing criminal complaint No.156 of 2.11.2016 (NI Act Case No.777 of 2016) (Annexure P-1) filed by the complainant-respondent under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act as well as subsequent proceedings including summoning order dated 2.11.2016 passed by learned Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Rewari whereby the petitioner along with others have been summoned to face trial under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act.
3. This case has chequered history. M/s S.K.G. Buildcon Private Limited is a registered Company (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”). It seems that the Company along with its group Company M/s Ambition Colonisers Private Limited developed a residential colony on a piece of land measuring 13.237 acres situated within the revenue estate of village Maheshwari, District Rewari (Haryana). This land was adjacent to the land measuring 27K-10M owned and possessed by the private respondents/complainants along with other co-sharers who are also impleaded as respondents in connected petitions. The Company has obtained Letter of Intent (in short, ‘LOI’) for the purpose of developing said colony in October, 2012 and obtained licence from the competent authority in March, 2013 to develop this colony on the land measuring 13.237 acres.
4. A bare perusal of Annexure R-2 (which is a plaint of the suit filed by the Company against the land owners) shows that necessary sanction was accorded to the Company by the competent authority and immediately thereafter, the Company started development of Group Housing Residential Complex in the name and style of M/s Kaasa Ramana and earlier this complex was given the name of ARAVALI GREEN VILLAGE. The Company asserts that the house building project got good response and more than 150 flats had already been booked by the intending purchasers before the sale of the land of the private respondents and other co-sharers came into existence. However, the adjacent land measuring 27K-10M was also purchased by the Company vide sale deed dated 10.9.2013 (registered vide No.1311 dated 11.9.2013) from the land owners namely Khazan Singh, Attar Singh, Jai Singh, Smt. Urmila, Smt. Rajbala and Smt. Sunita for a total consideration of Rs.17,18,75,000/-. However, the consideration was paid through cheques and some of them were post-dated cheques which are also duly mentioned in the sale deed dated 10.9.2013. The details of these cheques are duly mentioned in the sale deed which are as under:—
Cheque Number
Date
Amount (Rs.)
Name of Bank
Particulars
005948
10.09.2013
5,00,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Khazan Singh
005949
10.03.2014
25,00,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Khazan Singh
005950
10.09.2016
2,11,87,500
Bank of Maharashtra
Khazan Singh
005966
10.09.2016
5,00,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Khazan Singh
005951
10.09.2013
10,00,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Attar Singh
005952
10.09.2014
50,00,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Attar Singh
005953
10.09.2016
4,30,62,500
Bank of Maharashtra
Attar Singh
005954
10.09.2013
5,00,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Jai Singh
005967
10.09.2014
5,00,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Urmila
005955
10.09.2014
25,00,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Jai Singh
005968
10.09.2016
5,00,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Jai Singh
005956
10.09.2016
2,08,75,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Jai Singh
005957
10.09.2013
5,00,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Urmila
005958
10.09.2014
25,00,000
Bank of Maharashtra
Urmila
005959
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