9911796707
TMI Blog1991 (7) TMI 259X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ondent-company since 1960. Initially, the petitioner was appointed in O. C. M. (India) Ltd., but later on she was transferred to the East India Carpet Company Ltd., G. T. Road, Chheharta, with effect from 1978. Both the companies are concerns of the same proprietor. It is alleged by the petitioner that, at the time of entry into service, a house was let to her by the company, being quarters No. 5, in the O. C. M. Estate, Amritsar, on monthly rent. The petitioner was in occupation and possession of the quarters which were rented out to her by the company and to which the Rent-Act also applied. She was being threatened with forcible dispossession from the quarters. The petitioner, per force to save her interest, filed a civil suit for a per ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... espondent-company in abuse of the process of law, filed a criminal complaint for prosecuting the petitioner under section 630 of the Companies Act on the ground that the petitioner was using the property of the company. A copy of the complaint is attached as annexure P-5 to the petition and the petitioner was summoned to answer the charge in the court of Shri S. S. Gupta, Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Amritsar. "The criminal complaint and the -proceedings pending before the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Amritsar, according to the petitioner, are liable to be quashed on the following grounds: ( i )that no criminal complaint for summary trial under section 630 of the Companies Act is maintainable in the court in the circumstances ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is well prosecuting; ( v )that the company, by filing the complaint and the criminal court by summoning the petitioner without application of mind, have exercised the jurisdiction which is not vested in them either under law or otherwise; and ( vi )that the action of the respondent is a mere abuse of the process of law". Shri C. L. Maheshwari, Law Officer, VXL India Ltd. (O.C.M. Woollen Mills) Chheharta, Amritsar, has filed a reply by way of affidavit. In his preliminary objections to the reply, it is stated as under: "1. That this petition is not competent in the eye of law and it is necessary to refer to the correct factual position which is as under: ( a )That the petitioner was employed by the respondent-company and for her re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1990, and the court decreed the suit for possession and directed the petitioner to vacate the premises and hand over possession immediately and also pay mesne profits with effect from December 15, 1984, up to date. ( g )That the petitioner filed an appeal against the aforesaid decrees along with an application for stay which came up for hearing before Shri Iqbal Singh, Additional District Judge, Amritsar, on February25, 1991. The lower appellate court, after going through the facts of thecase, held that "it is not disputed that she is not residing there but is residing at Dehradun . . . She is no longer an employee of the company and the quarters was allotted to her for her convenience and it is lying vacant and locked" and dismissed the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , Amritsar, on February 25, 1991. It is in the background of these facts that it has to be decided as to whether a complaint filed by the respondent-company against the petitioner under section 630 of the Companies Act is maintainable. It is undisputed that the petitioner occupied the quarters of the company when she was its employee. It is an unrebutted fact that she is keeping possession of the quarters till today. In my considered view, the complaint filed by the company under section 630, sub-section 1( b ) and sub-section (2) of the Companies Act is maintainable and, consequently, the summoning order passed by the Magistrate is in order. The question of interpretation of the maintainability of a complaint under section 630 of the Com ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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