(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 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 neglect on the part of, any 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.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this section,—
(a) "company" means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals;
(b) "director", in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.
21. The Commissioner may, after giving the parties concerned an opportunity of being heard, wherever it is possible to do so, and after recording his reason for doing so, by order in writing transfer any proceedings or class of proceedings under this Act, from himself to any other officer, and he may likewise transfer any such proceedings (including a proceeding pending with any officer or already transferred under this section) from any officer to any other officer or to himself:
Provided that nothing in this section shall be deemed to require any such opportunity to be given where the transfer is from any officer to any other officer and the offices of both are situated in the same city, locality or place.
64 The West Bengal State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1979.
VI of 1979.]
(Sections 22-26.)
Explanation.—In this section, the word "proceedings" in relation to any assessee whose name is specified in any order issued thereunder, means all proceedings under this Act in respect of any year, which may be pending on the date of such order or which may have been completed on or before such date, and includes also all proceedings under this Act which may be commenced after the date of such order in respect of any year in relation to such assessee.