https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=786513 Vicarious criminal liability under Section 138 NI Act requires material evidence of a director's active role, knowledge, consent, connivance or failure of due diligence linking them to the negotiable instrument transaction; mere non executive or independent status is insufficient, so the HC set aside the summoning order and quashed proceedings against the non executive/independent directors. By contrast, a Chief Financial Officer, as key managerial personnel whose role is materially connected to company finances, cannot be summarily discharged under Section 482 Cr.P.C. where involvement or knowledge is disputed, and the summoning order against the CFO was upheld for trial. en-us Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0530 Sat, 14 Feb 2026 08:29:30 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=786513 Vicarious criminal liability under Section 138 NI Act requires material evidence of a director's active role, knowledge, consent, connivance or failure of due diligence linking them to the negotiable instrument transaction; mere non executive or independent status is insufficient, so the HC set aside the summoning order and quashed proceedings against the non executive/independent directors. By contrast, a Chief Financial Officer, as key managerial personnel whose role is materially connected to company finances, cannot be summarily discharged under Section 482 Cr.P.C. where involvement or knowledge is disputed, and the summoning order against the CFO was upheld for trial. Case-Laws Indian Laws Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=786513