Successive Section 482 petitions and resigned director liability: proceedings may end when new material shows no role at the relevant time.

A successive petition under inherent criminal jurisdiction is maintainable when it rests on materially changed circumstances or newly produced evidence and is not a mere review of an earlier refusal. On the merits, criminal proceedings for cheque dishonour against a director who had resigned before the cheques were issued could not continue where the complaint contained no allegation linking him to the company's affairs after resignation. The proceedings against the resigned director were quashed, while the complaint could proceed against others if so advised.

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Issues: (i) whether a second application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was maintainable on changed facts and with new material; (ii) whether the criminal proceedings under Sections 138 and 142 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 against a director who had resigned before the cheques were issued could be quashed.

Issue (i): whether a second application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was maintainable on changed facts and with new material

Analysis: The earlier application had been dismissed without the benefit of the statutory Form 32 and without consideration of the resignation material subsequently placed on record. A fresh application under inherent jurisdiction is not barred where the later request rests on materially different circumstances and does not amount to a mere review of the earlier order.

Conclusion: The second application was maintainable.

Issue (ii): whether the criminal proceedings under Sections 138 and 142 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 against a director who had resigned before the cheques were issued could be quashed.

Analysis: The resignation of the appellant before the alleged issuance of the cheques was not in dispute, and the complaint did not contain any allegation that the cheques were post-dated or that the appellant remained responsible for the company's affairs after resignation. In those circumstances, continuation of the proceedings against him alone would be unjustified.

Conclusion: The proceedings against the appellant were liable to be quashed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded and the proceedings against the appellant were set aside, leaving the complaint to proceed only against others, if so advised.

Ratio Decidendi: A successive application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 is maintainable when it is founded on changed circumstances or newly produced material, and criminal process against a resigned director cannot continue absent a basis showing responsibility at the time of the offence.

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