Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956
24.Offences by
companies .-
(1) Where an offence
has been committed by a company, every person who, at the time when 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 an offence under this Act has
been committed by a company and is proved that the offence has been committed
with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any gross negligence
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 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.