Any person who wilfully obstructs an Inspector in the exercise of any power conferred on him under this Act or any person lawfully assisting an Inspector in the exercise of such power, or who fails to comply with any lawful direction made by an Inspector, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to *[two thousand and five hundred rupees].
*[50-A.Compounding of offences.- Any offence punishable under section 49 or any rule made under section 53 may, either before or after the institution of the prosecution be compounded by the Commissioner of Labour or such other officer as may be authorized in this behalf by the Government on payment for credit to the Government, of such sum as the Commissioner of Labour or such other officer may specify:
Provided that such sum shall not, in any case exceed the maximum amount of the fine which may be imposed under this Act for the offence so compounded.
(2) Nothing contained in sub-section (1) shall apply to a person who commits the same or similar offence within a period of three years from the date on which the first offence, committed by him, was compounded.
Explanation.- For the purpose of this sub-section, any second or subsequent offence committed after the expiry of a period of three years from the date on which the offence was previously compounded shall be deemed to a first offence.
* Amended vide Act No.4 of 2008. This Act has come into force w.e.f. 11.04.2008.
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(3) Where an offence has been compounded under sub-section (1), no proceedings or further proceedings, as the case may be shall be taken against the offender, in respect of the offence so compounded and the offender, if in custody, shall be discharged forthwith.
(4) No offence punishable under this Act shall be compounded except as provided by this Section.
Offences by companies 50-B. (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), when 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 of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:
Provided that a company may give notice to the Inspector that it has nominated a director, who is resident in the Union Territory of Puducherry to be the employer in the establishment for the purposes of this Act and such director, shall so long as he is so resident, be deemed to be the occupier in the establishment for the purposes of this Act, until further notice cancelling his nomination is received by the Inspector or until he ceases to be a director.
Explanation .- For the purposes of this section, -
(a) “Company” means any 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.]
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CHAPTER - XI Miscellaneous