KIRLOSKAR PNEUMATIC COMPANY LIMITED Vs. V A MORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE short question which falls for determination in this petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is whether only a Director of the Company can be nominated as an occupier contemplated under section 2 (n) of the Factories Act, 1948. Only few facts are required to be stated to appreciate the controversy raised in the petition.

(2.) THE petitioner is a Public Limited Company incorporated under provisions of the Companies Act, and the Company runs a factory at Hadapsar in Pune District. The factory is duly licenced under provisions of the Factories Act, 1948. Section 2 (n) of the Factories Act prior to its amendment on December 1, 1987 read as follows :

(3.) BY Resolution dated February 23, 1974 the Board of Directors of the petitioner Company appointed K. K. Khanna, Vice President (Technical and Commercial) as the occupier of the Hadapsar factory. Khanna thereupon filed requisite Form No. 3 prescribed under the Rules framed under the Factories Act before the Inspector of Factories, Poona. The Inspector of Factories accepted the nomination of Shri Khanna as the occupier. By Act No. XX of 1987 some of the provisions of the Factories Act were amended. The expression occupier defined under section 2 (n) after amendment reads as follows :