ORIENT STEEL AND INDUSTRIES LTD Vs. MEERA KUMARI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition is directed against the order dated october 22, 1990 vide which the complaint under Section 138 of the negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, filed by the petitioner was dismissed in default.

(2.) IT has been contended by the learned Counsel for the petitioner that the Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Faridabad, erred in dismissing the complaint in default when the accused had been summoned for the date fixed. He contends that the petitioner failed to appear in Court on the said date as he fell ill and was admitted in a Nursing Home. In support of his contention he has placed on record a certificate from Roma Nursing Home, jaipur, showing that Mr. Ashok Kumar Mangal remained admitted in the Nursing Home from October 21, 1990 to October. 23, 1990. The contention of the learned Counsellor the petitioner is that the Judicial Magistrate ought to have adjourned the case, to some other date instead of outrightly dismissing the complaint in default. In support of his contention he has placed reliance on a Single Bench authority of the Calcutta High Court reported as Govinda -Chandra Bag v. Radhakanta Bag and Others, 1987 Crl. L. J, 477.

(3.) I do not find merit in the contention raised by the learned Counsel for the petitioner. The petitioner is a Company. The Chairman of the company had authorised Mr. V. K. Garg, Commercial Manager, and Mr. A. K. Mangal, Chief Accountant, to pursue the proceedings in the Courts, if Mr. A. K. Mangal had fallen ill or was admitted in a Nursing Home on the date fixed, then Mr. V. K. Garg, Commercial Manager, could have come to the Court to pursue the complaint. But nobody cared to come to the Court to defend the complaint on October 22, 1990, which was the date fixed in the case. Section 256 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 is to the following effect :