Continuing offences for company filing defaults keep prosecution alive where statutory liability continues each day of non-compliance.

Non-filing of statutory returns, balance-sheet and allied documents under the Companies Act was treated as a continuing offence where the statute imposes liability for every day the default persists. Sections 162(1) and 220(3) of the Companies Act, 1956 were read as keeping the omission punishable until compliance, so the limitation bar under section 468 CrPC did not defeat the prosecutions. The earlier contrary view was held not binding in light of later Supreme Court authority on continuing offences.

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Issues: Whether the offences for non-filing of statutory returns, balance-sheet and allied documents under the Companies Act are continuing offences so as to attract section 472 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and save the prosecutions from the bar of limitation under section 468 of that Code.

Analysis: The default in filing statutory documents within the prescribed period is ordinarily complete on expiry of that period, but it becomes a continuing offence where the statute itself continues the penal liability for each day during which the default persists. Sections 162(1) and 220(3) of the Companies Act, 1956 make the company and defaulting officers liable to fine for every day during which the default continues, showing that the omission remains punishable so long as it is not made good. The earlier contrary view was held not to be binding in light of the later Supreme Court exposition on continuing offences, and the prosecutions could not be treated as barred merely because they were launched after six months from the original default.

Conclusion: The offences under sections 162(1) and 220(3) of the Companies Act, 1956 are continuing offences, and the prosecutions are not barred by limitation under section 468 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

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