P S NATARAJAN Vs. CHIEF INSPECTOR OF FACTORIES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner's requests for renewal of his Competent Person Certificate under Rule 2-A of the Tamil Nadu Factories Rules, having been rejected on the ground that the petitioner is aged more than 62 years, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition contending that the authority has failed to exercise the power vested in it to relax the age and that in any event the age of the petitioner is less than 62 years having regard to the extract from the Register of Births, produced by the petitioner and, therefore, the certificate should have been renewed for the year 2001-2002.

(2.) As regards the first contention that the authority is vested with the power to relax the age requirement, that contention is only to be stated to be rejected having regard to the language of Rule 2-A of the Tamil Nadu Factories Rules 1960. Rule 2A deals with competent persons. The third proviso thereunder reads thus:

(3.) The power to relax contained in the first proviso is not with reference to age but with reference to qualifications. The qualifications are set out in the Schedule annexed to the Rule. The qualification so set out is in addition to the ceiling on age referred to in the third proviso. The ceiling on age is not part of the qualification for the purpose of the Rule. The first contention, therefore, fails.