HAYAGREEVAN POTTI Vs. SANKARAN NAIR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A question entirely open and not concluded by any decision of this Court is raised in this Revision and that is whether a lodging house is a boarding house and so is a commercial establishment governed by the provisions of the Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments Act (XXXIV of 1960), hereinafter referred to as the Act. The petitioner who was convicted by the Industrial Tribunal and Special First Class Magistrate (For Labour Laws), Alleppey, under S.29 of the Act read with R.14 of the Rules framed under that Act and sentenced to pay Rs. 15/- as fine, runs a lodging house called "Sreevas Tourist Home" at Trivandrum.

(2.) The relevant sections in the Act and the rules framed under it can be read immediately.

(3.) When Pw. 2, the Inspector under the Act, visited the Sreevas Tourist Home on 6-6-1968 and demanded the Registers contemplated by the Rules they were not produced by the petitioner. pw. 2 did not also see the notice in Form E exhibited there. It was thereafter that the prosecution was started.