24. Penalties.—(1) Any person who,—
(a) having in his possession, custody or control any property forming part of the undertaking
which has vested in the Central Government under section 3, wrongfully withholds such property
from the Central Government or new company, or
(b) wrongfully obtains possession of any property forming part of such undertaking, or
(c) being required by sub-section (2) of section 5 so to do, wilfully withholds or fails to furnish to
the Central Government, new company or any other person specified by that Government or the new
company, any document which may be in his possession, custody or control, or
(d) wilfully fails to furnish an inventory as required by section 6, or furnishes an inventory
containing any particulars which are incorrect or false in material particulars and which he either
knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, or
(e) being required by the Central Government or the new company in writing so to do, fails to
furnish any return, statement or other information relating to the undertaking of the old company
which has vested in the Central Government under section 3, or
(f) makes a false or frivolous claim before the Tribunal with regard to the ownership of, or any
right in, any share, or
(g) fails to comply with any order of direction made under this Act,
shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine which
may extend to ten thousand rupees, or with both:
Provided that the court trying any offence under clause (a), clause (b) or clause (c) of this sub-section
may, at the time of convicting the accused person, order him to deliver up or refund, within a period to be
fixed by the court, any property or money wrongfully withheld or wrongfully obtained or any document
wilfully withheld or not furnished.
(2) No court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under this section except with the
previous sanction of the Central Government or an officer authorised by that Government in this behalf.
25. Offences by 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 to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:
Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to 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 was 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 a firm or other association of
individuals; and
(b) “director” in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.
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26. Offences to be triable by a Magistrate of the first class and not to be
compoundable.—Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898),—
(a) every offence against this Act shall be triable by a Magistrate of the first class, and
(b) no offence against this Act shall be compoundable