law: The Competition Act, 2002 
  48. Contravention by
  
  companies.-
  1.  
  
    Where
  
  a person committing contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or of
  
  any rule, regulation, order made or direction issued there under is a company,
  
  every person who, at the time the contravention 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
  
  contravention 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 contravention
  
  was committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence
  
  to prevent the commission of such contravention.
  2.  
  
    Notwithstanding
  
  anything contained in sub-section (1), where a contravention of any of the
  
  provisions of this Act or of any rule, regulation, order made or direction
  
  issued there under has been committed by a company and it is proved that the
  
  contravention has taken place 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 guilt y of that contravention and shall be
  
  liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Explanation.-For the
  
  purposes of this section,- 
  a.   "company"
  
  means a 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.