Section 338:
Liability where proper accounts not kept
(1) Where a company is being wound up, if it is
shown that proper books of account were not kept by the company throughout the period of two years
immediately preceding the commencement of the winding up, or the period between the incorporation of
the company and the commencement of the winding up, whichever is shorter, every officer of the
company who is in default shall, unless he shows that he acted honestly and that in the circumstances in
which the business of the company was carried on, the default was excusable, be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to three years and
with fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to three lakh rupees.
(2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), it shall be deemed that proper books of account have not been
kept in the case of any company,--
(a) if such books of account as are necessary to exhibit and explain the transactions and financial
position of the business of the company, including books containing entries made from day-to-day in
sufficient detail of all cash received and all cash paid, have not been kept; and
(b) where the business of the company has involved dealings in goods, statements of the annual
stock takings and, except in the case of goods sold by way of ordinary retail trade, of all goods sold
and purchased, showing the goods and the buyers and the sellers thereof in sufficient detail to enable
those goods and those buyers and sellers to be identified, have not been kept.