25. False statement and forgery.—(1) If any qualified person—
(a) on whom an enlistment notice has been served under this Act in respect of whom no
postponement certificate is in force or no application or appeal for postponement of national service
is pending, fails or omits to render the service which he is required by such notice to render, or
(b) having commenced to render national service, leaves that service without obtaining a
discharge under section 17,
he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and also with fine
which may extend to two thousand rupees.
(2) Any person who—
(a) in giving any information for the purposes of this Act, knowingly or recklessly makes a
statement which is false in material particulars or which he does not believe to be true, or
(b) (i) with the intention of deceiving, forges or uses or lends or allows to be used for any person
any certificate issued under this Act, or
(ii) makes, or has in his possession, any document so closely resembling any certificate so issued
as to be calculated to deceive,
shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or with fine not exceeding one
thousand rupees, or with both.
26. General provision as to offences.—Any qualified person who contravenes any provision of this
Act for the contravention of which no penalty is separately specified in this Act, shall be punished with
fine which may extend to five hundred rupees:
Provided that in any proceedings for an offence punishable under this section, it shall be a defence for
the accused to prove that he was prevented from complying with the provisions of this Act by
circumstances beyond his control.
27. Offences by companies.—(1) Where any provision of this Act or of any order made thereunder is
contravened by a company, every person who at the time the contravention was made 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 contravention 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 any such offence has been
committed and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance, 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
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(b) “director”, in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.