Minimum Wages Act, 1948
22C. Offences by companies
(1) If the person committing any 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 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 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 any 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 of the company 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 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.