KOTCCHA Vs. REGIONAL INSPECTOR OF FACTORIES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application, under Article 226 of the Constitution, for the issue of a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ to prevent the respondent, the Regional Inspector of Factories, Guntur, from enforcing any of the provisions of the Factories Act against the petitioner in relation to the premises known as Lakshmidas Premji, 21/9 Bandala Bazaar, Agraharam, Guntur.

(2.) The petitioner is the manager of Sri Lakshmidas Premji, a concern which has got its head office at Calcutta and several branches in various States. More than sixty years ago, the petitioner opened a branch at Guntur. The petitioner's branch at Guntur purchases ghee, collected and brought by various intermediaries not only from the various taluks of the Guntur district but also from the neighbouring districts such as Cuddapah, Kurnool, Nellore and Krishna. The ghee thus collected is heated and poured into tins which are sealed. The sealed tins are then sent to the petitioner's head office at Calcutta. On 26 May 1955, the Regional Inspector called upon the petitioner, by notice, to comply with the provisions of the Factories Act and threatened him with prosecution in default of compliance. The Regional Inspector of Factories and the Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories, Andhra, to whom the petitioner appealed, held that the premises was a factory governed by the provisions of Act LXIII of 1948.

(3.) On behalf of the petitioner, two contention have been advanced: