Section 25 — Offences by companies.

25. Offences by companies.—(1) If the person committing an offence under this Act is a company, 

the company as well as every person in charge of, and responsible to, the company for the conduct of its 

business at the time of the commission of the offence 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 exercised all 

due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence. 

  



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(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an 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 that the commission of the offence is attributable to any neglect on the part of any 

director, manager, managing agent or any other officer of the company, such director, manager, managing 

agent or such other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be 

proceeded against and punished accordingly. 

Explanation.—For the purpose 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.