1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY APPELLATE SIDE CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.447 OF 2009 WITH CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NOS.449, 451, 453, 454, 456 AND 457 OF 2009 SPL Technochem Ltd. & Ors. .... Petitioners Vs. Traxpo Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. .... Respondents WITH CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.458 OF 2009 AND CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.460 OF 2009 Akar Laminators Ltd. & Ors. .... Petitioners Vs. Crystal Software Solutions Ltd. & Anr. .... Respondents WITH CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.461 OF 2009 AND CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.462 OF 2009 Vinod Tarachand Sheth .... Petitioner Vs. Crystal Software Solutions Ltd. & Anr. .... Respondents Shri S.V. Marwadi i/b Ms Sunita Sharma 2 for the Petitioners in all Petitions. Shri Vivek Kantawala for Respondent No.1 in all Petitions. Shri S.R. Shinde, APP, for the State in CWP-Nos.447, 449 & 451 of 2009. Ms A.S. Pai, APP, for the State in CWP-Nos.453, 454, 456, 457, 458, 460, 461 & 462 of 2009. CORAM: B.R. GAVAI, J. DATED: FEBRUARY 17, 2010 P.C: 1. Heard. Rule. By consent, rule made returnable forthwith. 2. The short ground on which the petitions are pressed into service is that the verification of the complainants which is recorded by the learned Magistrate has been done in a mechanical manner and, that too, on a particular type of a proforma. 3. A learned single Judge of this Court in the case of Amarnath Baijnath Gupta & Anr. v. M/s. Mohini Organics Pvt. Ltd. & Anr., reported in 2009 All MR (Cri.) 184, has held thus: "It is the obligation of the 3 Magistrate to examine the complainant which means that the Magistrate is obliged to put questions to the complainant for eliciting the truth from him. The said provision enjoins a judicial duty to be performed by the Judicial Magistrate which requires an application of judicial mind. The said work of recording the statement cannot be done mechanically by simply filling details such as the date of cheque, name of the bank, date of intimation of dishonour of the cheque etc; in a format which is already kept ready. Generally, the complaints are drafted by the lawyers as per the instructions of the complainants. Thus, a complaint is the translated version or a formulated version made by the advocate on the instructions received from the complainant. Therefore, the examination of the complainant under Section 200 by the Magistrate is very important. During the course of such examination the complainant tells the truth. In fact, the object of the Magistrate recording such statement is of eliciting the truth from a complainant. Therefore, while recording a statement under Section 200 of the said Code in such a complaint, the Magistrate cannot merely reproduce the data in a pre- conceived format. He must give an opportunity to the complainant to state and describe the role played by the accused especially when directors/officers of a company are sought to be held vicariously 4 liable. The object of examination is that a true version on oath of the complainant is brought on record." 4. On a perusal of the verifications, which are annexed to the respective petitions, it is revealed that the verifications are in a format which has been previously typed and the blanks therein have been filled in hand- writing. It can, thus, clearly be seen that the verifications, as recorded, are not in accordance with law, as has been laid down by this Court. 5. In that view of the matter, the orders of issuance of process would not be sustainable in law. As such, the orders of issuance of process in all these matters are quashed and set aside. The matters are remanded back for proceeding with the complaints in accordance with law, as has been laid down by this Court in the case of Amarnath Baijnath Gupta (supra). 6. The rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms. No order as to costs. B.R. GAVAI, J.