53. Offences by companies.-
(1) Where an offence under this Act has been
committed by a company, every person who, at
the time the offence was committed, was in charge
of, and was responsible to, the company for
the conduct of the business of the company,
as well as the company, 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 tile commission of such
offence.
(2) Nothwithstanding anything
contained in sub-section (1) where any 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 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 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,-
(a) "company" means
any body corporate and includes a firm or other
association of individuals; and
(b) “director",
in relation to a firm, means a partner in the
firm.
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