Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985
38. Offences by companies.
(1) Where an offence under Chapter IV 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 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
any offence under Chapter IV 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 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.