TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (5) TMI 1299
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.... filed by the respondents No.1 and 2 against the petitioner under Section 138 read with Section 142 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for short, the "N.I. Act"). 2. It may be noted, at this juncture, that the order impugned is not the summoning order. Rather, it is the order dismissing the application of the petitioner seeking discharge, which is dated 18th November, 2021 and has been placed on the record as Annexure P-15 at pages 77-78 of the E-file. The summoning order is dated 21st July, 2012 and has been placed on the record as Annexure P-10. 3. The complaint was filed when the cheque dated 18th May, 2012 issued by the petitioner for a sum of Rs.24 lakhs, drawn on Indian Overseas Bank, Institutional Area, Secto-62, Noida, Uttar....
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....misused. He had also alerted the Bank not to honour cheques in respect of Account No.171902000000189. Further, the petitioner was not the Director of the company at the time of the commission of the offence and was therefore not liable, and reliance has been placed on the decision in DCM Financial Services Limited v. J N Sareen (2008) 8 SCC 1. 5. Mr. Siddharth Dutta, learned counsel for the petitioner, has urged these very grounds submitting that the entire case was mala fide and was stage-managed against the petitioner and that in actual fact, the Director was the daughter of the complainant, who ought to have been impleaded in this case instead of the petitioner. Reliance has been placed on the decision of the Supreme Court in S.M.S. Pha....
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....d as Annexure P-9, (at page 42, para No.4). Nor is there an error in the application of the law. Therefore, the conclusion that the petitioner herein cannot be discharged is sound. 8. With regard to the other argument that the petitioner has already resigned or that the cheques were lost from his possession, these were rightly held by the learned Trial Court to be the defence of the petitioner to be established by him. Even before this Court, the petitioner relies only on his resignation letter, which has been generally addressed to the Board of Directors, with copies to another Director, the Registrar of Companies (ROC) and the Chartered Accountant. But, there is nothing to show that this was accepted by the Board of Directors and the nec....