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.

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	10