24. ¹[Contravention by companies].--(1) Where ²[a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or any rule, regulations, direction or order made thereunder] has been committed by a company, every person who, at the time when 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 provided in this Act, 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 sub-section (1), where ³[a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or any rule, regulation, direction or order made thereunder] has been committed by a company and is proved that the ⁴[contravention] has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any gross negligence on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, shall also be deemed to be guilty of that ⁴[offence] and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
     ⁵[(3) The provisions of this section shall be in addition to and not in derogation of, the provisions of section 22A.]
     Explanation .--For the purpose of this section,--
         (a) "company" means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals, and
         ⁶ [(b) "director", in relation to--
             (i) a firm, means a partner in the firm;
             (ii) any association of persons or a body of individuals, means any member controlling the affairs thereof.]