Apprentices Act, 1961
32. OFFENCES
BY COMPANIES. -
(1) If the
person committing an offence under this Act is a company, every person who, at
the time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to, the
company for the conduct of 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 such punishment provided in this Act 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.
(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
negligence 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 that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against
and punished accordingly.
Explanation
:
For the purposes of this section, -
(a)
"company" means a 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.