31. (1) If the person committing any offence under this Act is a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed was incharge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of its business, as well as the company shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be punished under section 30 ;
Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment it he proves that the offence was committed 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 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 or manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be punished.
Explanation-For the purposes of this section-
(a) "company" means anybody corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals ; and
(b) "director" in relation to a firm means a partner the firm.