(1) No court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under this Act except upon complaint in writing made by the Controller or any officer authorised in this behalf by the Controller by general or special order.
(2) No court inferior to that of a magistrate of first class shall try any offence punishable under this Act.
40. Stamped weights etc., to be presumed to be correct - A weight or measure or weighing or measuring instrument duly stamped under the provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder shall if it is produced in any court by any Inspector having charge thereof or by any person acting under the general or special authority of the Controller, be presumed to be correct until its inaccuracy is proved.
41. 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 incharge 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 contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to 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 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 is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer, 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 any 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.
42. Delegation of powers - The Government may, by notification in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette, direct that any power exercisable by them under this Act or rules made thereunder shall, in relation to such matters and subject to such conditions, as may be specified in the direction be exercisable also by such officer or authority subordinate to them as may be specified in the notification.
43. Limits of error to be tolerated in weights and measures - Subject to any rules that may be made under the Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1956 (Central Act 89 of 1956) in this behalf, the Government may prescribe the limits of error which may be tolerated:-
(a) in working standards referred to in section 3;
(b) in secondary standards referred to in section 4;
(c) in commercial weights and measures or in selling articles by weight or measure generally or as regards any trade or class of trades; and
(d) weighing and measuring instruments.