Section 27. offences by the 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 for penalty as provided for in the Act : Provided that, nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any penalty, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he has exercised all the 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, manage, 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 subjected to penalty as provided for in the Act. Explanation. - For the purposes of this section company means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and director in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm.