law: Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959 
  28. Offences by companies 
  (1) If the person committing an offence under
  
  this Act is a company, the company as well as every person in charge of, and
  
  responsible to, the company for the conduct of its business at the time of the
  
  commission of the offence 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 exercised all
  
  due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
  (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this
  
  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 that the commission of the offence 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", with respect to an
  
  offence under section24, section 25 or section 27, means any body corporate and
  
  includes a firm or other association of individuals; and with respect to an
  
  offence under section 26 means a body corporate; and
  (b) "director" in relation to a
  
  firm, means a partner in the firm.