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Section 149: Offences by companies

Electricity Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

Statutory Regulation
Legal Standard
Competent Court / Tribunal
Act 2003
Section 148 All 185 Sections of Electricity Act Section 150

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 149

Section 149 of the Electricity Act, 2003 governs offenses by companies, establishing vicarious criminal liability for managing directors, directors, and corporate officers who were in charge of the business, or whose consent, connivance, or neglect caused the offense.

  • Corporate Attribution of Criminal Culpability: Provides that where an offense under this Act is committed by a company, the corporate entity as well as every person in charge of and responsible to the company shall be deemed guilty.
  • Individual Directorial Liability for Neglect or Consent: Explicitly holds directors, managers, or company secretaries personally liable if the electricity offense is proved to have occurred with their consent, connivance, or neglect.
  • Statutory Due Diligence Defense: Permits a director to escape criminal conviction only by proving that the offense was committed without their knowledge or that they exercised all due diligence to prevent its commission.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • Aneeta Hada v. Godfather Travels & Tours Pvt. Ltd. (2012) 5 SCC 661: Three-Judge Bench held that for vicarious criminal liability to attach to corporate directors, arraigning the company as an accused is a mandatory condition precedent.
  • Sunil Bharti Mittal v. CBI (2015) 4 SCC 609: Supreme Court held that corporate directors cannot be prosecuted vicariously unless the statute expressly creates vicarious liability and specific role attribution is established.
  • BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd. v. Brij Mohan (2015) 15 SCC 353: Affirmed that in electricity theft cases involving commercial companies, the corporate entity must be formally prosecuted alongside responsible directors under Section 149.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

When representing non-executive or independent directors arraigned in Section 135/146 electricity prosecutions, file an immediate quashing petition under Section 482 CrPC / Section 528 BNSS demonstrating that they were not resident directors in charge of day-to-day operations and that the complaint contains no specific role attribution.

Section 148 All 185 Sections of Electricity Act Section 150