Aneeta Hada vs M/S Godfather Travels & Tours Pvt.Ltd on 27 April, 2012
In Aneeta Hada v. Godfather Travels & Tours (P)
Ltd, [(2012) 5 SCC 661] this Court had reiterated
that the proviso to general vicarious liability under
Section 141 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881,
applies as an exception, by observing: (SCC p. 678,
para 22)
"22. On a reading of the said provision, it is
plain as day that if a person who commits the
offence under Section 138 of the Act is a
company, the company as well as every
person in charge of and responsible to the
company for the conduct of business of the
company at the time of commission of
offence is deemed to be guilty of the offence.
The first proviso carves out under what
circumstances the criminal liability would not
be fastened. Sub-section (2) enlarges the
criminal liability by incorporating the
concepts of connivance, negligence and
consent that engulfs many categories of
officers. It is worth noting that in both the
provisions, there is a "deemed" concept of
criminal liability."