Raja Vijayaraghavan V., J.

1. Whether the proprietor of concern can be held criminally liable under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 ('N.I. Act', for short) for dishonor of a cheque drawn by his authorised signatory? Or alternatively can the authorized signatory who has drawn the cheque be successfully prosecuted under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act notwithstanding the fact that the cheque has not been drawn on an account maintained by him? These are the subtle questions that arises for consideration in these petitions filed under section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The answers to these questions would decide the fate of these Criminal Miscellaneous Cases which have been referred to the Division Bench under section 3 of the High Courts Act by a learned Single Judge of this Court. The learned Single judge while referring the matter has disagreed with the view taken by another single Judge in Jayaprabha Harikumaran Thampi V. Don Bosco and Another [2015 (1) KLT 1022].

2. Before dealing with the question of law involved, we may briefly advert to the allegations in the complaints which have been annexed to the petitions.

3. There are two