No prosecution shall be instituted under section 7 without the previous sanction of the Director.
1. Substituted by the Act No. 16 of 1982, S.10.
2. Added by the Act No. 16 of 1982, S.10.
3. Inserted by the Act No.16 of 1982, S.11.
1[9. Offences by companies - (1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by 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 the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:
Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment 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 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 of or connivance of or is attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company shall also 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” means anybody corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and
(b) “director” in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.]