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Showing contexts for: datar switchgear ltd. in Rajeev Chandrasekhar vs K. Koteswar Rao on 17 February, 2022Matching Fragments
(Emphasis supplied) In MAHARASHTRA STATE ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION COMPANY LIMITED, v. DATAR SWITCHGEAR LIMITED3, the Apex Court holds as follows:
"30. It is trite law that wherever by a legal fiction the principle of vicarious liability is attracted and a person who is otherwise not personally involved in the commission of an offence is made liable for the same, it has to be specifically provided in the statute concerned. In our opinion, neither Section 192 IPC nor Section 199 IPC incorporate the principle of vicarious liability, and therefore, it was incumbent on the complainant to specifically aver the role of each of the accused in the complaint. It would be profitable to extract the following observations made in S.K. Alagh [(2008) 5 SCC 662 : (2008) 2 SCC (Cri) 686] : (SCC p. 667, para 19) (2010) 10 SCC 479 "19. As, admittedly, drafts were drawn in the name of the company, even if the appellant was its Managing Director, he cannot be said to have committed an offence under Section 406 of the Penal Code. If and when a statute contemplates creation of such a legal fiction, it provides specifically therefor. In absence of any provision laid down under the statute, a Director of a company or an employee cannot be held to be vicariously liable for any offence committed by the company itself."
This averment is an essential requirement of Section 141 and has to be made in a complaint. Without this averment being made in a complaint, the requirements of Section 141 cannot be said to be satisfied."
The same principle has been reiterated in S.K. Alagh v. State of U.P. [S.K. Alagh v. State of U.P., (2008) 5 SCC 662 : (2008) 2 SCC (Cri) 686] , Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd. v. Datar Switchgear Ltd. [Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd. v. Datar Switchgear Ltd., (2010) 10 SCC 479 : (2011) 1 SCC (Cri) 68] and GHCL Employees Stock Option Trust v. India Infoline Ltd. [GHCL Employees Stock Option Trust v. India Infoline Ltd., (2013) 4 SCC 505 : (2013) 2 SCC (Cri) 414]