(1) If the person committing an offence under s ction 35 1s a company, every person who, at the time the · ffence wa~ committed was in charge of, and was res ponsible 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 accordmgly:
Prov•ded that not!lin-. contained in this sub·!.ection shall render any such person hable to any puni~hrnent if he proves that the co •travention took place without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under section 35 has been comm•tted by a com pany and it 1s 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 of the company, ::-uch director·, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liabie to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
Explanation.-For the purpose.; of this section,- ( a) "company'' means any body corporate, and includes a firm or other association of mdxvtd·Jals; and
(b) "director'', in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.