Offence by a body of individuals

(1) If a body of individuals commit an offence under this Act, every person, who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, or was responsible to, the body for the conduct of the business of the body, 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 if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence. Explanation :- For the purpose of this section, "body of individuals" means a company, firm, association, club or any such body by whatever name it is called.