(1) Whenever an offence under this Act has been committed by a Company, every person who at the time of the commission of the offence was in charge of, or was responsible to the Company for the conduct o f the business of the Company, shall be deemed to be guilty o f the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub section (I), where an offence under this Act 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 o f the Company, such Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty o f that 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 any punishment under this Act if he proves that offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
Explanation: For the purpose of this Section -
(a) “Company” means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association or individuals, and
(b) “Director”, in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.