SUBHASH CHANDRA AGARWAL Vs. PLANET MEDIA SERVICES LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This common judgment shall decide the present petitions which are filed under sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as "the Code") for quashing the summoning orders dtd. 1/4/2017 and 23/2/2017 (hereinafter referred to as the "impugned orders") passed in criminal complaints titled as Planetcast Media Services Ltd V Beret Media Services bearing CC no. 5229/2017 and CC No. 3047/2019 by the court of Shri Lovleen, Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the "trial Court").

(2.) The respondent no. 1/complainant (hereinafter referred to as "the respondent no. 1") has filed two complaints under sec. 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 (hereinafter referred to as the "NI Act") titled as Planetcast Media Services Ltd V Beret Media Services and Others bearing CC no. 5229/2017 subject matter of CRL.M.C 1745/2019 and CC No. 3047/2017 subject matter of CRL. M.C 1155/2019 respectively on the allegations that the respondent no. 1 is engaged in the business of providing Playout, Satellite bandwidth and Teleport (Up linking) services under the license of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Government of India. The respondent no. 2, namely, Beret Media Pvt. Ltd./accused no. 1 (hereinafter referred to as the "respondent no. 2") is stated to be a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956. The petitioner/accused no. 2, respondent no. 3/accused no. 3 and respondent no. 4/accused no. 4 are stated to be directors of the respondents no. 2, and are in charge and responsible for the conduct, management and day-to-day affairs of the respondents no. 2. The respondents no.2 and 3 are jointly, severely liable for acts of the respondent no. 2. The accused no. 5 i.e. Bhola Baba Developers Ltd is stated to be company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and is running a TV channel "India Crime". The accused no. 6, namely, Virender Kumar Agarwal (hereinafter referred to as the "accused no. 6"), accused no. 7, namely, Hari Shankar Agarwal (hereinafter referred to as the "accused no. 7"), accused no. 8, namely, Jitendra Agarwal (hereinafter referred to as the "accused no. 8") are the directors of the accused no. 5. The accused no. 6 to 8 are responsible for day-to-day affairs of the accused no. 5.

(3.) The trial Court vide impugned orders dtd. 23/2/2017 passed in complaint no. 3047/2017 and 1/4/2017 passed in complaint no. 5229/2017 took the cognizance for the offence punishable under sec. 138 of the NI Act against the petitioner and the respondents no. 2 to 4. The accused no. 5 to 8 were not summoned by the Trial Court. The impugned orders reads as under:-