SC to examine provisons of Indian Penal Code

New Delhi, Jun 25: The Supreme Court has decided to examine whether provisions of Indian Penal Code(IPC) shall prevail over section 621 of the Companies Act which says that all issues and disputes under the Companies Act are to be decided and adjudicated upon by the Company Court.

The bench comprising Mr Justice A R Lakshmanan and Mr Justice Altamas Kabir on June 23 issued notices on a petition filed by a woman director of a private company Ms Sushila Aggarwal seeking cancellation of non-bailable warrants issued against her and her husband by a Guwahati court on account of non-appearance.

The court also stayed the execution of non-bailable warrants against petitioner by Mandawali police in East Delhi which were issued by a Guwahati court in Assam.

It may be noted here that husband of the petitioner, who is also one of the directors of the company, was earlier arrested by Delhi police and was released on bail by Delhi High Court.

Senior counsel Shyamla Pappu and counsel Indeevar Goodwill appearing for the petitioner, pleaded that the company has registeted office in Delhi and has no other branch in the country and as per judgement of this court case can be filed against a company only where it has head office or a branch office and therefore Guwahati court did not have territorial jurisdiction to entertain the complaint.

The allegations against the petitioner and her husband are that they took Rs 1.5 lakhs from the complainants for issuing shares but did not keep their promise.

According to the petitioner, the complainants were not the share holders and have filed cases at the instance of other directors just to harass the petitioner.

The petitioner has also raised an important issue whether section 621 of the Companies Act can debar the jurisdiction of other courts including criminal courts in company matters and disputes which include issuance of shares also.

UNI