Seeds Act, 1966
21. Offences by companies
(1) Where an offence under this Act 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 under this
Act if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge and 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 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