138 NI ACT

you can change the AR with court permmission , you should  also establish the grounds for the change.When court gets  satisfy,u can

No. who has signed to the complaints  he should depose in the court.

Yes, Why not you can change AR with permission of court.

 Thanx! Actually lawyer of my firm is telling me what Rajeev has just written. Could you cite some case laws in favour of changing AR?

Can a police offices have power to arrest the accused in all cognizable cases, pending dispute between the parties.?

Facts : Our company [A] have some service agreement with a company located in Mumbai. There is some dispute regarding inefficiency in services, in consequenses of which [B] company had imposed some panely on our company [A]  and denied to clear the bill, which our company raised on [B] company. Now they have cancelled  the contract and and demanding for pending stocks lying with us, but we are determined not to returned the stock as our bill is not yet cleared. Now they are threatening to file case under sections-403, 405, 120B, 417 and other [IPC].

Please let us know, whether police officers can arrest the directors of our company on filing of FIR by [B]. What are the defences available to our company ?

dear Ms. Esha,

An authorised representative is generally an employee of the company and suppose he resigns from the job then you cannot bring him to the court to depose in your case. Thus the most plausible remedy would be to replace the said "AR". So, when you will enter the witness box, you may be at the worst asked to file fresh affidavit in evidence. That you can easily do. Technically Mr. Rajiv is correct but that will not solve your problem. The solution would be to file an application before the concerned court for permission to change the AR and then follow the directions of the court.

I hope that will solve your difficulty.

Dear Mr. Pradeep,

File a cse against 'B' for recovery of balance amount and in the plaint disclose that you are holding the stocks back. You can also file an application for injunction against 'B' prohibiting them from removing the said stocks from your custody and try to obtain an order in your favour. In that way your directors will be safe.

Esha,

Go through the citation,

M/s Aravali Pipes Ltd,&others v/s Haryana State Idustrial Development Corporation Ltd.

2003[2] DCR 425.

decded on 16/01/2003.

above citation is not directly for you facts but you will get some idea.

U have no choice, u cannot change the AR.  U have already told that evidence is complited, so just presence of the complainant is also not necessary, now ur advocate look after all the matter, so change of AR is not necessary however u want to change the AR just get PA from the complainant. 

This case might have been over but for future reference, please note that Proprietorship firms prima facie is nothing but an individual. S.138 onwards of NI Act looks very painful to drawer and infact it becomes painful also if not handled properly. Both genuine complainant and falsely victimised accused should take care from day one. Honestly speaking due to work load and not so good fee structure in trail courts the learned advocate fraternity also does not spend quality time on the individual matter, which leads to unnecessary hassles at a later stage, although unintentional. My request is that both accused and complainant (whoever is honest) should pay attention himslef and monitor the case. for more details pl contact: advocate.dma@gmail.com