23Offences and penalties

(1) Whoever, in any return or other document or in any information required or furnished by, or under, or for the purposes of, any provision of this Act, wilfully makes a statement which is false in any material particular, knowing it to be false, or wilfully omits to make a material statement, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and shall also be liable to fine.

(2) Every credit information company or a credit institution or any specified user, wilfully, performing any act or engaging in any practice, in breach of any of the principles referred to in section 20, shall be punishable with fine not exceeding one crore rupees.

(3) Any credit information company or credit institution or specified user wilfully providing to any other credit information company or credit institution or specified user or borrower or client, as the case may be, credit information which is false in any material particular, knowing it to be false, or wilfully omits to make a material statement, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one crore rupees.

(4) Any person who contravenes any provision of this Act or of any rule or order made thereunder, or obstructs the lawful exercise of any power conferred by or under this Act, or makes default in complying with any requirement of this Act or of any rule or order made or direction issued thereunder, shall, if no specific provision is made under this Act for punishment of such contravention, obstruction or default, be punishable with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees and where a contravention or default is a continuing one, with a further fine which may extend to five thousand rupees for every day during which the contravention or default continues.

(5) Where a contravention or default has been committed by a credit information company or credit institution or specified user, as the case may be, every person who, at the time the contravention or default was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to the credit information company or credit institution or specified user for the conduct of its business, shall be deemed to be guilty of the contravention or default 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 provided in this Act if he proves that the contravention or default was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the contravention or default.

(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (5), where a contravention or default has been committed by a credit information company or credit institution or specified user, as the case may be, and it is proved that the same was committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any gross negligence on the part of its chairperson, managing director, any other director, manager, secretary or other officer of the credit information company or the credit institution, such chairperson, managing director, any other director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that contravention or default 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 individual, and

(b) "director", in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.