Section 217 Electricity Act 2023

Section 217 of the Electricity Act 2023 is about Offences by companies. It is under Part XX (Offences and Penalties) of the Act.

(1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every principal officer 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, and the company itself ae deemed to have committed the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:

Provided that nothing contained in this subsection 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 subsection (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by e company 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, secretary or other principal officer of the company, such director, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to have committed the offence and are liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(3) For the purposes of this section —
(a) “company” means a company registered under the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act;

(b) “director”, in relation to a company i1as the same meaning as a Director under the Companies and Allied Matters Act: and
(c) “secretary “means a company secretary to a company and has the same meaning as a company secretary under the Companies and Allied Matters Act.