Telangana High Court
G.Kumar vs The State Of A.P., And Another on 20 February, 2025
THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE K. SUJANA
CRIMINAL PETITION No.4241 of 2014
ORDER:
This criminal petition is filed by the petitioner/A.8
seeking to quash the proceedings in C.C.No.402 of 2013 on
the file of IX Special Magistrate, Erramanzil, Hyderabad. The
offence alleged against the petitioner is under Section 138 and
141 of Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.
2. The case of the complainant is that the accused
approached the complainant on 10.01.2012 for grant of Rs.50
Crores towards short term loan for the general corporate
purpose which is repayable with interest @ 1.50% over and
above the base rate of the Bank as applicable from time to
time, with floating rate linked to base rate compounding on
monthly basis. That the Chairman T.Venkatram Reddy-A.3,
T.Vinayak Ravi Reddy, Vice Chairman-A.2 and P.K.Iyer, Vice
Chairman-A.4 stood as guarantors to the said loan and A.2 on
behalf of A.1 acknowledged the terms and conditions of
sanction communication and executed all the necessary loan
documents and the other accused are mentioned as Board of
Directors.
3. Heard Sri A.Chandra Shaker, learned counsel for the
petitioner and learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the 1st
respondent-State. None appeared on behalf of the 2nd
respondent, though notice is served.
4. The contention of learned counsel for the petitioner is
that petitioner is not the signatory of cheque and he is not the
Director who entered into agreement with the complainant,
that he is not aware of issuance of any cheque as he was only
a nominated Director, his post is only a ceremonial post
without any responsibility or powers and he resigned much
prior to the alleged issuance of cheque by A.1 and in the
complaint there are no averments to show that this petitioner
is responsible for the day-to-day affairs of the company.
Petitioner has resigned from the post of nominated Director on
27.06.2012. The alleged cheque was issued in the year 2013
and it is also incorporated in the company web. Therefore, he
is not the Director of Company on the date of issuance of
cheque and there is no cause of action during the term of this
petitioner and whatever allegations are made in the complaint
are not applicable to the petitioner as he is no way connected
with the Company on the date of issuance of cheque.
5. Learned counsel relied on the judgments in Ashoke Mal
Bafina Vs Upper India Steel Manufacturing and
Engineering Company Limited 1 , Arrakuntal V. Ganeshan
Vs M/s.Sai Rama Cotton Syndicate and another 2 and
Saroj Kumar Poddar Vs State (NCT of Delhi) and another 3.
He further submitted that in Crl.P.No.5169 of 2014, this
Court quashed the proceedings against A.6 and A.9 in the
same crime stating that as the petitioners therein were neither
Managing Directors nor signatories of the cheque, and they
have no role in issuance of cheque. As such, requested the
Court to quash the proceedings against the petitioner herein.
6. Though notice is served on the counsel on record for the
2nd respondent, none appeared on its behalf.
7. Hence, considering the submissions made by the
learned counsel for the petitioner and the material available
on record, the petitioner herein is only a nominated Director
and he has already resigned from the subject company much
1 (2018) 14 Supreme Court Case 202
2 2013 (2) ALT (Crl) 275 (AP)
3 (2007) 3 Supreme court Cases 693
prior to issuance of cheque and even after resigning from the
said company, petitioner herein was arrayed as accused
stating that he is Director of company, whereas the
documents filed by the petitioner shows that he has resigned
from the company on 26.07.2012 and the date of issuance of
cheque is in the year 2013, as such he is no way connected to
the crime. Hence, the proceedings against the petitioner in
C.C.No.402 of 2013 are liable to be quashed.
8. Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed and the
proceedings in C.C.No.402 of 2013 on the file of IX Special
Magistrate, Erramanzil, Hyderabad are quashed.
Miscellaneous applications, if any pending, shall stand
closed.
_______________
K. SUJANA, J
Date: 20.02.2025
Rds
