104Offences and penalties

(1) A multi-State co-operative society or an officer or member thereof wilfully making a false return or furnishing false information, or any person wilfully or without any reasonable excuse disobeying any summons, requisition or lawful written order issued under the provisions of this Act, or wilfully not furnishing any information required from him by a person authorised in this behalf under the provisions of this Act, shall be punishable with fine which shall not be less than two thousand rupees and which may extend to ten thousand rupees.

(2) Any employer who, without sufficient cause, fails to pay to a multi-State co-operative society the amount deducted by him under section 60 within a period of fourteen days from the date on which such deduction is made shall, without prejudice to any action that may be taken against him under any other law for the time being in force, be punishable with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.

(3) Any officer or custodian who wilfully fails to hand over custody of books, accounts, documents, records, cash, security and other property belonging to a multi-State co-operative society of which he is an officer or custodian, to a person entitled under section 54, or section 70, or section 78, or section 79, or section 89 shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and in the case of a continuing breach, with a further fine which may extend to five thousand rupees for every day during which the breach is continued after conviction for the first such breach.

(4) Whoever, before, during or after the election of delegates under the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 38 or election of members of the board,--

(a) fraudulently defaces or fraudulently destroys any nomination paper; or

(b) fraudulently defaces, destroys or removes any list, notice or other document affixed by or under the authority of a returning officer; or

(c) fraudulently defaces or fraudulently destroys any ballot paper or the official mark on any ballot paper or any declaration of identity; or

(d) without due authority supplies any ballot paper to any person or received any ballot paper from any person or is in possession of any ballot papers; or

(e) fraudulently puts into any ballot box anything other than the ballot paper which he is authorised by law to put in; or

(f) without due authority destroys, takes, opens or otherwise interferes, with any ballot box or ballot papers then in use for the purposes of the election; or

(g) fraudulently or without due authority, as the case may be, attempts to do any of the foregoing acts or wilfully aids or abets the doing of any such acts;

(h) offers any gift or promises to offer any gratification to any person with the object, directly or indirectly, of including--

(i) a person to stand or not to stand as, or to withdraw or not to withdraw from, being a candidate at an election; or

(ii) a member to vote or refrain from voting at an election, or as a reward to a person for having so stood or not stood or for having withdrawn or not having withdrawn his candidature; or

(iii) a member for having voted or refrained from voting,

shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine or with both.