Corporate complaint maintainability under the Negotiable Instruments Act is preserved despite the original authorised officer's resignation

A complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act filed by a company remains maintainable when it was instituted through an authorised officer and cognizance had already been taken. The later resignation of that officer does not extinguish the company's right to continue the prosecution, provided the complainant company continues through an authorised representative. The court rejected the view that the complaint became invalid for want of authority merely because the original representative ceased to be in service, and held that the company's continuing prosecution preserved maintainability.

---

---

Issues: Whether a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 filed by a company became non-maintainable merely because the authorised employee who instituted it later resigned, and whether the trial court was justified in rejecting the complaint on the ground of lack of authority in the representative.

Analysis: The complaint was originally instituted by the company through an officer who was duly authorised at the time of filing, and cognizance had already been taken. The subsequent resignation of that officer did not extinguish the company's right to proceed with the prosecution. A different person was later permitted by the trial court to represent and look after the proceedings on behalf of the company. In prosecutions by corporate complainants, the essential requirement is that the complaint be on behalf of the payee company; the court cannot treat the later absence of the original representative as rendering the complaint invalid when the complainant entity itself continues to prosecute the case. The trial court's view that the earlier authorisation had become ineffective and that the complaint suffered from a legal infirmity was unsustainable.

Conclusion: The complaint remained maintainable, and the trial court was not right in dismissing the prosecution on the ground of want of authority in the company's representative.

Ratio Decidendi: A complaint by a corporate payee under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 is not rendered non-maintainable merely because the particular officer who originally filed it later ceases to be in service, so long as the complaint was instituted on behalf of the company and the company continues the prosecution through an authorised representative.

---