23Offences by companies

(1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, everyperson 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, shallbe deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against andpunished accordingly.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any offence underthis Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that offence has been committedwith the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to, any neglect on the part of, anydirector, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretaryor other officer shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceededagainst and punished accordingly.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section,—

(a) “company” means any body corporate and includes a firm or other associationof individuals; and

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