Offences by companies.

(1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company or a firm or a society or an association, every person who at the time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to the company or the firm or the society or the association for the conduct of the business of the company or the firm or the society or the association, as the case may be, 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 all 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 or a firm or a society or an association 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 of the company or the firm or the society or the association, 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. Explanation. - For the purposes of this section, - in relation to a firm, "Director" means a partner in the firm.