Section 9 — Offences by companies.

9. 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 incharge 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 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 had exercised 

all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence. 

(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 is attributable to, any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other 

officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty 

of the offence 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 individuals; 

and 

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