law: Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985
  34. Offences by companies 
  (1) Where any offence, punishable 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 punishable 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.