(1.) This is a reference under Section 438, Criminal P.C., by the Additional District Magistrate of Dhanbad recommending that the order of the trying Magistrate acquit, ting the accuaed (1) Kartar Ad-dharmi and (2) Jagar Ad-dharmi be set aside and the case remanded for retrial.
(2.) The accused Kartar Ad-dharmi as owner and accused Jagar Ad-dharmi as manager of a tannery and hide depot at Koiribandh within the Jharia. Mining Settlement area were prosecuted for having contravened Section 2 of Part 3 of the by laws of the Jharia Mines Board of Health framed under Section 25(1), Bihar and Orissa Mining Settlements Act (4 of 1920). The trying Magistrate acquitted the accused under Section 245, Criminal P.C. An application, then being made to the Additional District Magistrate, he has made this reference. Section 25(1)(x), Bihar and Orissa Mining; Settlements Act, authorizes the Board to make by laws consistent with the Act: Providing for the prevention or abatement of nuisances affecting the public health committed by any persons within the limits of the Mining Settlement.
(3.) "Board", as defined in Section 3(b) of the Act, means "a Mines Board of Health established under this Act". In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 25(1), Bihar and Orissa Mining Settlements Act, the Jharia Mines Board of Health framed certain by-laws which were approved by the Government of Bihar and Orissa under Section 25(2) of the same Act. Section 2 of Part 3 of these by-laws provides "No person shall commit a nuisance, or allow a nuisance to continue, on his premises." Contravention of any of these by-laws is made punishable under Section 26(3)(b), Bihar and Orissa Mining Settlements Act. The word "nuisance" is not defined in the Bihar and Orissa Mining Settlements Act, but in Section (1)(h) of the by laws framed by the Jharia Mines Board of Health it is defined as follows: Nuisance includes any act, omission, place or thing which in the opinion of the Medical Officer of Health is injurious to the public health.