Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Exclusion of public from proceedings. In addition and without prejudice to any powers which a Court may possess to order the exclusion of the public from any proceedings if, in the course of proceedings before a Court against any person for an offence under this Act or the proceedings on appeal, or in the course of the trial of a person under this Act, application is made by the prosecution, on the ground that the publication of any evidence to be given or of any statement to be made in the course of the proceedings would be prejudicial to the safety of the State, that all or any portion of the public shall be excluded during any part of the hearing, the Court may make an order to that effect, but the passing of sentence shall in any case take place in public. 7*[15. Offences by companies. (1) If the person committing an offence under this Act is a company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Subs. by the A. O. 1937 for "G. G. in C.". 2_ The words " the L. G. " were omitted, ibid. 3. Subs. ibid for "L.G." 4 Proviso omitted by Act 24 of 1967, s. 11. 5 Subs. by Act 3 of 1951, S. 3 and Sch., for "the States". 6 Ins. by the A. O. 1937. 7 Subs. by Act 24 of 1967, s. 12 for the former section. ------------------------------------------------------------------ - 649A to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly: Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to such punishment provided in this Act if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub- section (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or con- nivance of, or is attributable to any negligence on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Explanation.-For the purposes of this section,- (a) "company" means a body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and (b) "director", in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.]