offence under Section 138 of NI Act. There are catena of judgments wherein it is held that the complaint must necessarily contain averments as to how and in what manner the accused were in charge of and responsible for the conduct of business of the company, failing which at the threshold the complaint case and the summons ought to be quashed. In order to bring the offence under Section 141(2), where the offence is alleged to be committed by a company, a Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer of a company, it is to be proved that the offence was committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to, any neglect on the part of such individual. No material was placed before the learned MM at the presummoning stage which would even prima facie suggest that there was any consent, connivance or neglect on the part of the Petitioners, who were NonExecutive Directors. In this context, reliance was placed on the judgment of the Supreme Court in S.P. Mani (supra); Anita Malhotra v. Apparel Export Promotion Council and Another, (2012) 1 SCC 520 and of this Court in J.N. Bhatia & Ors. v. State & Anr., 2006 SCC OnLine Del 1598.
