Electricity Act, 2003
149. Offences by
companies.-
1.
Where
an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person who at
the time of 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
shall be deemed to be guilty of having committed 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 having committed such 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.