(1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person, who, at the time, when the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible, to the company for the conduct of the business of the company, and 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 contained in this Act, 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 negligence on the part of, any Director, Manager, Secretary or any other officer shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be prosecuted against and punished accordingly.
Explanation.— For the purpose of this section, "Company" means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individual and "Officer of the Company" means the Managing Director, Director, Secretary, Treasurer or Manger of the Company.