GUJAR A R Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against the decision of Kantawalla, J., in Miscellaneous Petition No. 399 of 1963. The appeal involves a question as to the interpretation of S. 5 of the Bombay Shops and Establishments Act, 1948. The question arises upon the following facts.

(2.) G. R. Rao Brothers, the appellants, constitute a firm and carry on a tailoring business at Dadar, Bombay. They are being prosecuted in the Court of the Presidency Magistrate, Twelfth Court, Bandra, Bombay, upon the complaint of respondent 2, the Inspector appointed under the Bombay Shops and Establishments Act, and filed sometime in July 1963 (none of the parties has been able to give this Court the exact date although protracted arguments were addressed). According to the complaint, the appellants had not maintained a register of employment in form J or H prescribed by the rules made under the Bombay Shops and Establishments Act in respect of certain named employees. The offence was detected on 15 June, 1963. The appellants were charged with the contravention of S. 52(f) of the Bombay Shops and Establishments Act, read with rule 20 of the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Rules, which prescribe that every employer or manager of a shop or commercial establishment shall maintain a register of employment in form H, provided that where the opening and closing hours and period of interval for rest are ordinarily uniform, the employer or manager may maintain such register in form J.

(3.) Before the complaint could come up for trial, the firm moved this Court by a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution alleging that the complaint could not be proceeded with against them; that the proceedings instituted against them should be quashed and the respondents should be asked to forbear from taking any steps pursuant to the complaint. To the petition there were four respondents, namely, the State of Maharashtra, the Inspector himself and two labour unions. The two labour unions were not initially parties but were added at later dates. The Maharashtra Tailoring Workers' Union, respondent 3, was joined on 12 November, 1963, and the Bombay Labour Union, respondent 4, was joined on 30 April, 1965, upon their respective applications. At that stage the petition before the learned single Judge had been heard for a considerable time.