General penalty for offences .

(1) Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, if in, or in respect of, any beedi and cigar industrial premises, there is any contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or any rule made thereunder by the employer of any beedi and cigar industrial premises, such employer shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both. (2) If any person who has been convicted of any offence punishable under sub-section (1) is again found guilty of an offence involving the contravention of the same provision, he shall be punishable, on the subsequent conviction, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or with both: Provided that, for the purpose of this sub-section, no cognizance shall be taken of any conviction made more than two years before the commission of the subsequent offence.