NILESH PANCHAL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of the present writ application, the applicants seek quashing of Criminal Complaint No. 43307 of 2016 pending before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Vadodara, for the offence punishable under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (the N.I. Act) as well as all further and subsequent proceedings pursuant thereto filed by respondent No. 2 - original complainant by exercising powers under section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1974.

(2.) The facts of the case as mentioned in the memo of the application are as under:

(3.) At the outset, the learned advocate for the applicants submitted that the impugned complaint is not maintainable for the reason that the Company is not joined/impleaded as a party to the present proceedings, which is the mandatory requirement as per various decisions of the Apex Court as well as of this court. Reliance was placed upon the provisions of section 138 read with section 141 of the N.I. Act as well as the judgements rendered by the Apex Court in the case of Aneeta Hada Vs. M/s. Godfather T ravels and Tours Private Limited, AIR 2012 S.C. 2795 and in the case of Kiritbhai Patel Vs. State of Gujarat, 2016 JX (Guj.) 61 and it was submitted that the impugned criminal complaint as well as all the subsequent proceedings arising therefrom may be quashed.