SC stays criminal proceedings against some senior IAS officers

New Delhi, June 22 (UNI) The Supreme Court today stayed criminal proceedings pending against some senior IAS officers for dishonour of cheques worth Rs. 110 crores which were issued by them as Directors of Madhya Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (MPSIDC), a state government undertaking in 1998 to Mumbai Central Co-operative Bank, a bank owned and controlled by state of Maharashtra.

The post dated cheques were issued by the government officials namely P.C.Sen, Vijay Singh, Dr. S . Chaudhary and others to Bombay based bank to meet the liabilities of MPSIDC towards the bank who had deposited the money with MPSIDC.

Some of the accused persons are presently posted as additional secretaries in the union government while others have since retired.

The proceedings under section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act(NIA) were initiated by the complainant bank after cheques were dishonoured for want of sufficient funds when presented by the bank for encashment in 2001 and the MPSIDC failed to make payments for the cheque amount despite demand notice served by the bank on the MPSIDC and the petitioners.

A Vacation bench comprising Justices A R Lakshmanan and Altamas Kabir stayed the proceedings when counsel for the petitioners pleaded before the court they were only nominated directors and their careers would be adversely affected if the proceedings were not stayed as the trial court would frame charges against the petitioners on August 31,2006.

The court while issuing notices to the state of Maharashtra and the concerned bank ruled,"Further proceedings in relation to the present petitioners pending in the trial court are stayed while the trial in relation to other accused may proceed." In all seven petitions challenging the validity of trial proceddings came up for hearing today.The petitioners have challenged the proceedings on the grounds that they were only nominated directors and were not controlling the routine affairs of MPSIDC and that they have no personal liability towards the bank as they had acted only for and on behalf of the MPSIDC. Ashok Kumar Gupta, advocate who appeared for the bank however opposed the plea for interim stay.

UNI AKS/SC RP PM1832