Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Offences by companies.- (1) If the person committing a default or contravention under this Act is a company, every person, who, at the time such default or contravention occurred, was in-charge of and was responsible for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed liable for the default or contravention 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 any punishment provided under this Act, if he proves that the default or contravention was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such default or contravention. (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 connivance of or it is attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Explanation: For the purpose of this section,- (a) "company" shall mean a body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and (b) "director" shall include director of a company and in relation to a partnership firm shall mean partner in the firm.