Complaint under section 138 NI Act

Querist : Anonymous (Querist) 27 May 2018 This query is : Resolved
A complaint had been filed in NI court for check bounce against (1) a pvt ltd company and (2) one Director of the company who issued the cheque on behalf of the Company

Now while the case is still under process in the court, the Director of the company (accused No. 2) has died. My question is (1) Can the case still continue against the Company (accused No. 1) (2) can another director of the company be made accused at this stage ? If yes what procedure has to be followed. Next hearing in the case is on 6th June 2018.

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Ms.Usha Kapoor (Expert) 28 May 2018
You may proceed against director No.1. You can recover the amount in cheque bounce against director no.2 who died, a civil action would lie against his legal heirs in a time bound manner... But see to it that the action of recovery against LRs is not time barred.No criminal action lies against Legal heirs of director no.2.

Guest (Expert) 28 May 2018
You cannot make another director as party to the case in his individual capacity in substitution of the accused director, unless he puts himself in to the shoes of the accused director to fight the case for and on behalf of the company after the death of the accused director. The other director is otherwise liable on behalf of his company, his being one of the director at the helm of affairs. So far as legal heirs of individual directors are concerned, they do not come in to picture before the death of the directors or the on closure of the company, if directors are not able to meet with their liabilities for and on behalf of the company.

Ms.Usha Kapoor (Expert) 29 May 2018
Yo0ur opinion is wrong Sir. Legal heirs can be replaced in place of dead director and you can proceed in a civil law suit against them and recover money provided it is not time barred. After thoroughly browsing the Internet I came to this conclusion. But no cr8minal action lies against the legal heirs.

Guest (Expert) 29 May 2018
The query maker is at liberty to take chance as an experiment in such a raw case, when the company is an artificial person and the legal heirs can't automatically step in to the shows of the directors without observing legal formalities.