Section 378X: Secretary of Producer Company

(1) Every Producer Company having an average annual turnover exceeding five crore rupees or such other amount as may be prescribed in each of three consecutive financial years shall have a whole-time secretary.

(2) No individual shall be appointed as whole-time secretary unless he possesses membership of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India constituted under the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 (56 of 1980).

(3) If a Producer Company fails to comply with the provisions of sub-section (1), the Company and every officer of the Company who is in default, shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred rupees for every day during which the default continues subject to a maximum of rupees one lakh:

Provided that in any proceedings against a person in respect of a default under this sub-section, no penalty shall be imposed if it is shown that all reasonable efforts to comply with the provisions of sub-section (1) were taken or that the financial position of the Company was such that it was beyond its capacity to engage a whole-time secretary.]