Limitation for company offence prosecutions runs from actionable knowledge, and internal consideration time cannot be excluded absent statutory authority.
Prosecutions for offences punishable with imprisonment up to two years fall within the three-year limitation period under section 468 CrPC, and limitation begins when actionable knowledge of the alleged offence arises. The article states that, where the Registrar of Companies receives an inspection report disclosing defaults, the time spent in internally considering the report, issuing notice, or deciding whether to prosecute cannot be excluded unless the statute expressly permits it. On the admitted dates discussed, the complaints were said to be filed after expiry of limitation.
Issues: Whether the criminal complaints for offences under sections 62 and 63 of the Companies Act, 1956 were barred by limitation, and whether the time taken by the Registrar of Companies to consider the inspection report could be excluded while computing limitation.
Analysis: The offence alleged was punishable with imprisonment up to two years, attracting the three-year period of limitation under section 468 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Limitation was held to commence when actionable knowledge arose to the Registrar of Companies, namely upon submission of the inspection report disclosing the alleged defaults. The statute did not permit exclusion of any additional time for the Registrar to consider the deficiencies, issue notice, or decide whether to prosecute. On the admitted facts, the complaints ought to have been filed by August 2001 but were filed only on 19 February 2002. The matter was not treated as a mixed question of law and fact on these facts.
Conclusion: The complaints were barred by limitation and the summoning order could not be sustained.
Final Conclusion: The petitions succeeded, and the proceedings founded on the time-barred complaints were quashed.
Ratio Decidendi: In prosecutions governed by section 468 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, limitation runs from the point when actionable knowledge of the offence arises, and time spent by the complainant in deciding whether to prosecute cannot be excluded unless the statute so provides.
TaxTMI 
AI Drafter ✕
TaxTMI 
