(1) Whenever an offences under this Act has been committed by a Company, every person who at the time of the commission of offence was in charge of, or was responsible to the Company for the conduct of the business of the Company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act 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 also be deemed to be guilty of that 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 under this Act, if he proves that offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
Explanation - For the purpose of this section-
(a) “Company” means anybody corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and 31
(b) “Director” in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.
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