Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company 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, or authorised representative 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, irrespective of the fact that the offence has been committed with or without the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, or authorised representative of the company.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this section,—
(a) "company" means a 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.