Right to confront the complainant with documents in Companies Act prosecutions, with attendance ordered for effective cross-examination.

In prosecutions under the Companies Act for failure to file balance sheets and annual returns, the accused were entitled to effective cross-examination on the documents relied upon. The witness for the complainant could not speak to the relevant records, and the court should have used section 311 CrPC to secure the complainant's attendance for confrontation with those documents. Section 621(1A) of the Companies Act, which says personal attendance of the complainant should not ordinarily be insisted upon, did not bar such a direction in a proper case. The orders refusing that opportunity were unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the accused in prosecutions under the Companies Act were entitled to have the complainant produced for cross-examination and confrontation with documents, notwithstanding the complainant's non-examination and the general rule regarding personal attendance.

Analysis: The dispute arose from prosecutions for failure to submit balance sheets and annual returns. The accused stated that the original records were not with them and that only copies were available, while the witness examined for the complainant could not speak about the documents sought to be used in confrontation. In those circumstances, the Court held that the trial court ought to have invoked the power under section 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 to secure the complainant's attendance for effective cross-examination. The reliance placed on section 621(1A) of the Companies Act, which states that personal attendance of the complainant need not ordinarily be insisted upon, was held not to preclude the court from directing attendance in a proper case.

Conclusion: The petitioners were entitled to have the complainant summoned for cross-examination and confrontation with the relevant documents, and the impugned orders refusing that opportunity were unsustainable.

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