¹[26A. Offences by credit institutions.--(1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a credit institution every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the credit institution or the conduct of the business of the credit institution as well as the credit institution 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 an offence under this Act has been committed by a credit institution 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 credit institution, 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, "director", in relation to a co-operative society, means any member controlling the affairs thereof.]