Specific averments against directors under the Negotiable Instruments Act can defeat quashing and leave responsibility for trial.

A complaint under Sections 138 and 141 of the Negotiable Instruments Act is not liable to be quashed under Section 482 CrPC where it specifically avers that the directors were in charge of and responsible for the company's business and that the offence was committed with their knowledge, consent, connivance and neglect. On such pleadings, the complaint read as a whole is sufficient to attract statutory liability, and the directors' actual role is ordinarily a matter for trial rather than threshold quashing. The proceedings were therefore allowed to continue.

---

---

Issues: Whether a complaint under Sections 138 and 141 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 could be quashed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 on the ground that the directors were not specifically and sufficiently averred to be in charge of and responsible for the conduct of the company's business.

Analysis: The complaint specifically stated that the petitioners were directors, were in charge of and responsible to the company for the conduct of its business, had been looking after its business, and that the offence was committed with their knowledge, consent, connivance and neglect. In prosecutions under Section 141, a clear averment that the accused was in charge of and responsible for the conduct of the business is required, and whether the directors were actually so ible is ordinarily a matter for trial when such averments are present. On the complaint read as a whole, the allegations were sufficient to attract the statutory liability and the matter was not fit for quashing at the threshold.

Conclusion: The petition for quashing was not maintainable and was dismissed.

Final Conclusion: The proceedings under Sections 138 and 141 were allowed to continue, as the complaint contained the necessary allegations against the directors and the issue of their actual responsibility was left to be determined at trial.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a complaint under Section 141 specifically avers that the accused directors were in charge of and responsible for the conduct of the company's business, the complaint is not liable to be quashed under Section 482 at the threshold and the question of their actual liability must be examined at trial.

---