(1)Where any 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, 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 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 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--(i)a firm; and(ii)an association of persons or a body of individuals whether incorporated or not; and(b)"director", in relation to--(i)a firm, means a partner in the firm;(ii)an association of persons or a body of individuals, means any member controlling the affairs thereof.(6)Where a registration is cancelled under clause (b) of sub-section (4), or clause (c) of the second proviso to that sub-section, or because the society has failed to have its registration renewed, the Authority may at its discretion revive the registration of the provident society, within six months from the date on which the cancellation took effect, makes the deposits required by section 73 or satisfies the Authority that no claim upon it such as is referred to in the said clause (c) remains unpaid or has had an application under sub-section (3) of section 70A accepted, as the case may be, and complies with any directions which may be given to it by the Authority.
