C A ABDUL WAHAB Vs. S KRISHNAN NAIR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Revision Petitioner Abdul Wahab, Proprietor of C.A. Abdul Wahab & Co., Mattanchery, was convicted by the District Magistrate, Ernakulam under S.92 of the Factories Act 63 of 1948 for contravening the following provisions of the said Act and the Travancore-Cochin Factories R.1952: (i) S.6 (1) (a) of the Act and R.3 by conducting the factory without the previous sanction of the Chief Inspector of Factories, (ii) S.6(l) (d) of the Act and R.4 by not applying for registration and obtaining a licence for the Factory and (iii) S.7 (1) and R.12 by not giving due notice to the Chief Inspector of Factories.

(2.) The prosecution case is that on 15-5-1957 when Pw. 3 the Inspector of Factories visited the premises of Abdul Wahab & Co., he found 29 persons engaged in the manufacturing process (preparing coir products for export). It is therefore alleged that Abdul Wahab & Co., is a factory as defined under the Factories Act and that the petitioner is conducting it without complying with the provisions of the Factories Act. The defence plea is that the company is not a factory in that except for the Manager, Cashier, etc., the rest of the 29 employees found by the Inspector in the company premises are not workmen as contemplated in the Factories Act. The accuseds case is that the labourers were not his employees, but were those of an independent contractor Abdul Kader (Dw. 1).

(3.) The learned District Magistrate repelled the plea holding that Dw. 1 was not an independent contractor, but only a Moopan or an agent for supplying labourers.