The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
66. Offences by
companies. -
1.
Where
an offence under this Act which has been committed by 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 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 where a company has
different establishments or branches or different units in any establishment or
branch, the concerned Head or the person in-charge of such establishment,
branch, unit nominated by the company as responsible for food safety shall be
liable for contravention in respect of such establishment, branch or unit:
Provided further that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any
such person liable to any 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 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 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.