ORDER :

1. An order passed by Judicial First Class Magistrate Court (NI Act Cases), Ernakulam (for short ‘the trial court’) on 02.02.2022 is taken up in challenge in the petition on hand.

2. The order was passed by the court below suo motu in a prosecution launched by the 2nd respondent under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for short ‘the NI Act’) whereby the jurisdiction under Section 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short ‘Cr.P.C.’) was invoked to ascertain the name of the persons who are operating the bank accounts shown on Ext.X1, the operation status of the account being “anyone.”

3. The order reads as follows:

“Heard the complainant. Accused represented. However, in the course of hearing it is seen that in Exhibit X1 bank statement which is vital in the transaction in question, the Account is in the name of ‘A.L. Sreenivasa Shenoy and Others’ from which the complaint is alleged to have made the payment to the accused. The operation status of the said Account is shown as “Anyone.” Hence, for the just decision of this case, this court finds it inevitable to invoke section 311, Suo Motu, so as to ascertain the name of persons who are operating the bank