(1) If the person com mit ting an offence under this Act is a com pan y, every person who, at the time the offsnee was commit ted , was in-ch arge of, and Was responsible to the com pany for the conduct of the business of the com pan y, as wel l as the com pany shall be deemed to be gui lty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceede d aga inst and pun ished ac co rd ing ly:
Provide d th at noth ing con tained in this sub-section shall ren de r any such person liable to punishm ent i f he proves th at the offence was com mit ted witho ut his knowledge or that he exercised all due d iligence to pre ven t th e comm ission of such offence.
(2) Notwi ths tanding anyth ing con tain ed iis iub-sec tion (1), where an offence unde r this Act has been com mit ted by a com pany and it is p roved th at the offence has been comm itted with the consent or connivance of or is at tri bu table to any neglect on the p ar t of, any direc tor, ma nager, secre tary or oth er officer o f th e company shall also be deemed to be gui lty of tha t offence and shall be liable to be proceede d against and puni shed acco rdingly.
Ex plan at ion. - For the purposes of this sections—
(a) “ Com pany” means any body corporate and includes a firm or oth er associat ion of individ uals ; and 11 * <4r’-' (A) “ direc tor” in relation to a firm , includ es a partne r in the firtn.