[1]THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE N.R.L. NAGESWARA RAO CRIMINAL PETITION Nos. 5536 and 1259 of 2011 COMMON ORDER: The Criminal Petitions are filed by the petitioners/A3, A6 and A7 under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short “Cr.P.C.”) to quash the proceedings in C.C.No.472 of 2010. The petitioners are accused in C.C.No.472 of 2010 on the file of the XX Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad, which was originally numbered as C.C.No.1697 of 2005 on the file of the XIV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad. The petitioners were tried for offences under Section 138 and 141 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 and are said to be the directors of the 1st accused company, which was issued some cheques to the complainant. The claim of the petitioners herein is that they are not associated with the discharge of the functions of the management of the 1st accused and merely because they are directors, they cannot be prosecuted without proof of their active involvement in the management of the company. The learned counsel for the petitioners also contends that the complaint is barred by time and also further contends that the notice given prior to the institution of the complaint is defective since the total amount was claimed instead of the amount that was actually dishonoured under the cheques for which the prosecution is laid. It is needless to say that the exercise of the power under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. is extraordinary and it cannot be entertained when a trial of the case has completed and it is at the stage of examination of the accused under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. In this case, evidently, the trial has completed. The case is at the stage of examination of the accused under Section 313 Cr.P.C. The present applications now filed are based on a judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court reported in the case of NATIONAL SMALL INDUSTRIES CORPN. LTD. v. HARMEET SINGH PAINTAL[2], wherein the law relating to the liability of the directors has been laid down. The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that by applying this law and reading the evidence of the complainant, there is no offence made out. It is to be borne in mind that even before the commencement of the trial, the petitioners have filed Criminal Petition No.949 of 2006 along with other accused to quash the proceedings and this Court after considering the repeated submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioners, which were also made in the earlier application, found that there is prima facie case and none of the contentions, now raised by the petitioners, can be taken into consideration and accordingly dismissed the application for quashing of the proceedings. Therefore, at this stage, again to look into the prima facie material and to quash the proceedings on the basis of the allegations in the complaint itself, does not arise. So far as the appreciation of the evidence is concerned, it is to be left to the Court, which has tried, and this Court will not generally take the onerous acts of accepting or not accepting the evidence of the complainant. Therefore, if there are any legal rights, which the petitioners can show that they cannot be convicted of the offence on the basis of the evidence, it is for the lower Court to appreciate the evidence and come to the conclusion. At this stage, the application for quashing of the proceedings does not arise and it is only an abuse of process and to further delay the proceedings of the criminal case pending before the lower Court. Therefore, it is not a rarest of the rare cases and on the other hand, the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioners have already been considered and found to be prima facie case in the earlier proceedings and now the matter stands that it is an appreciation of evidence coupled with the application of law, which the lower Court alone can do it. Therefore, the Criminal Petitions are dismissed at the stage of admission. ________________________ N.R.L. NAGESWARA RAO, J Date: 14-07-2011 MR THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE N.R.L. NAGESWARA RAO CRIMINAL PETITION Nos. 5536 and 1259 of 2011 DATE: 14-07-2011 MR [1] [2] (2010) 3 Supreme Court Cases 330