28. 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 preceded 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 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
office 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 anybody corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals;
and
(b) “director”, in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.
