ANURADHA KAPOOR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally, with the consent of the learned counsel for the respective parties.

(2.) The applicants/original accused in Criminal Complaint filed by the non-applicant no.2-Company under Sec. 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (in short, "NI Act") are aggrieved by the order dtd. 3/11/2022 passed by the learned 2nd Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nagpur (in short, 'Magistrate'), whereby the applicants' application seeking compounding of the offence upon full payment of cheque amount has been rejected. According to the applicants, the order suffers from non-consideration of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, in the case of Damodar S. Prabhu vs. Sayed Babalal, Docid # IndLawLib/274145 and Meters and Instruments Private Limited vs. Kanchan Mehta : Docid # IndLawLib/1273921.

(3.) Having heard both sides at length, it transpires that the non-applicant no. 2 filed complaint u/s 138 of the NI Act, accusing as many as 12 entities/ individuals to be responsible for dishonour of cheque amounting to Rs.15.00 lakhs. The accused nos. 1 and 2 are a Company, named and styled as Castex Technologies Limited having offices at Haryana and Rajasthan. The accused no.3- John Earnest Flintham is said to be the Managing Director of the Company; accused nos. 4 to 12 are/were the Directors of the accused nos.1 and 2 companies. The applicant No.1 herein is the accused no.8; applicant no.2 is the accused no.7; applicant no.3 is the accused no.4, applicant no.4 is the accused no.5; applicant no.5 is the accused no.10 and applicant no.6 is the accused no.11 respectively. These applicants have been arrayed as accused in the capacity as Directors of the Company with an allegation that they all are involved in the day-to-day affairs of the Company.