SHRI GOBIND PRASAD LATH Vs. SHRI PAUL OSWAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ON the 16th April, 1973, Shri Paul Oswal, Joint Managing Director, M/s. Vardhman Spinning and General Mills Ltd., Samrala Road, Ludhiana, instituted a complaint against Shri Govind Prasad Lath Petitioner in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ludhiana, levelling charges under Sections 409, 467, 468, 417 and 477 -A of the Indian Penal Code. The broad allegations levelled in the complaint were that M/s. Vardhman Spinning and General Mills Ltd., Ludhiana, had appointed M/s. J. R. Trading Company of Calcutta as their sole -selling agents for the sale of their products in West Bengal territory by an agreement last renewed on the 26th July, 1971. Besides this, the sole proprietor of the above -said concern Shri Janak Raj Punni also held a general power of attorney dated the 7th January, 1967, on behalf of the Company above said to look after their, business affairs at Calcutta. Shri Janak Raj Punni, in his turn, appointed Shri Gobind Prasad Lath as the distributor for the sale of the yarn manufactured by the Company in West Bengal on a commission basis of 1/2 per cent on all the sales affected in or outside the above -said territory. An agreement to this effect was entered into on the 14th June, 1966, and it was the complainant's case that relationship of principal and agent between Shri Janak Raj Punni and Gobind Prasad Lath Petitioner was created thereby. It was further the case that the Calcutta office of the Vardhman Spinning and General Mills Ltd. was manned by an Accountant named Shri Parkash Chander Sharma and Dharam Deo, a peon, who were supervised and controlled by Janak Raj Punni abovesaid.

(2.) THE business practice was that the distributor Shri Govind Prasad Lath and Shri Janak Raj Punni deposited the entire collection and sale proceeds in terms of the agreements within 24 hours of the realisation thereof with the company's bankers M/s. Allahabad Bank, Calcutta, who transmitted the same to the head office of the complainant Company. A regular account of the transaction was duly maintained by Shri Parkash Chander Sharma, Accountant, abovesaid.

(3.) SHRI Janak Raj Punni and Darshan Kumar Oswal, Managing Director of the Company, reported the matter to the Company's Head Office and also collected all possible information from the parties concerned. But, despite their efforts to contact the accused, they failed to do so because he had absconded. The Managing Director above -said of the Company attempted to examine the books seized by the Bureau of Investigation, Finance Department, but could not succeed.