Penalty.

(1) Whoever contravenes any of the provisions of this Act or any rules made thereunder or obstructs any officer or person in the exercise of any powers conferred or in the performance of any duty imposed upon him by or under this Act, shall be liable for imprisonment of either description which may extend to one year or with fine upto Rs. 1,00,000 or with both. (2) If the person committing an offence under this Act is a company, the company as well as every person incharge of, and responsible to the company for the conduct of its business at the time of the commission of the offence shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as per sub-section (1): Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any person liable to any punishment if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), 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 that the commission of the offence 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 as per sub-section (1). 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, is a partner in the firm.