Penalties.- (1) Whoever contravenes any of the provisions of this

Act or any rules made thereunder, or attempts to contravene or abets the

contravention of any such provision or rule,he shall, on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year orwith fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees or with both.

1. (2) If the person committing an offence under this Act is a company, the company as well as every person in charge 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 beliable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly: Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable toany 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.
2. (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 shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
3. (4) The State Government may authorise the competent authority to compound certain offences under the Act which may be notified by the State Government, subject to condition that compounding fee shall not be less than thirty thousand rupees. 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, is a partner in the firm.