S HARBANSLAL Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner was, in CC.1470 of 1972 on the file of the Judicial Magistrate First Class (Second Court), Bangalore, convicted under S.92 of the Factories Act, 1948 (to be hereinafter referred to as the Act) and sentenced to pay fine of Rs. 100 and in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for two weeks. He filed CrlA.15 of 1974. The Second Addl Sessions Judge, Bangalore, confirmed the conviction and reduced the sentence of fine to Rs.50. The conviction and sentence are challenged in this petition.

(2.) The prosecution case is, as available from the complaint of the Inspector of Factories (P.W. 1 As wathanarayana), that at about 10-30 A.M. on 19-8-1972, P.W. 1 visited Sundar Chemical Works, Nehru Nagar, Bangalore, and found 22 workers working there. He looked into the register maintained under S. 62 of the Act and noticed that the names of 8 workers out of these 22 workers, were not mentioned there. He then looked into the leave with wages register and found that entries had not been made. He also found that the first-aid box had not been maintained in accordance with the provisions of the Karnataka Factories Rules, 1969 (to be hereinafter referred to as the Rules of 1969). and that leave books in form No. 15 had not been issued to the workers. On examining the licence issued to the petitioner, he noticed that the licence entitled him to employ 20 workers, but in fact he had employed 22 workers. He called upon the petitioner to rectify all these things, and the petitioner wrote to him as per Ex. P. 3. It is on this basis the prosecution has contended that the petitioner has contravened the provisions of the Act and the Rules of 1969, and, hence, committed an offence punishable under S. 92 of the Act.

(3.) The stand of the petitioner is that those 8 persons were not 'workers' that 2 out of them were employees only while the remaining 6 were casual labourers; that he had issued leave books in form No. 15 to all the workers in his factory and those books were with the workers; and that he had maintained the first-aid box and moreover was himself manufacturing tincture etc., in bulk and those medicines were available to the workers in the factory.