Every officer acting under the provisions of this act shall be deemed to be a public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code 1960 (45 of 1860).
62. Officer 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 contained 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 had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) where any 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 shall also be deemed 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 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.