HC stays proceedings against Videocon CMD

Nagpur: Granting partial relief to Videocon Industries chairman and managing director (CMD) VenugopalDhoot, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court granted an interim stay on criminal proceedings against him for allegedly defaulting on payment of Rs20lakh as per agreement with his human resources (HR) manager at Warora based plant.
The proceedings were initiated against Aurangabad-based CMD by Dilip Chhajed, proprietor of Hansa Travels having office at VCA complex.He used to provide transport facilities/buses for factory employees and school going children through Voltas Limited in Warora, which was eventually taken over by the Videocon Industries. The complainant then inked a pact with the company on April 1, 2007 for continuing same facility. It was agreed that Hansa travels will provide four buses for nearly Rs3 lakh per month to the company. However, the company allegedly defaulted on the payment citing “bad conditions” and requested the complainant to bear with them.
Chhajed ultimately issued a legal notice to Dhoot on November 11, 2008. After failing to get response, he lodged a FIR with Sadar police station and also filed a criminal complaint before JMFC. The Sadar police subsequently called Dhoot and company officials for investigations and issued notice to them on June 14, 2010. The petitioner and his son were then booked under Sections 403, 406, 420 read with 34 and 109 of the IPC.
Sixth JMFC then issued a bailable warrant against them on September 18, 2010, and started criminal proceedings, as they failed to appear despite repeated summons. Dhoots challenged this order through counsel Sangram Sirpurkar in the high court where Justice Zaka Haq granted a temporary stay on September 27, 2012. On Friday, his case was admitted for final hearing and an interim stay was granted on criminal proceedings against him issued by JMFC in city.