9911796707
TMI Blog1969 (3) TMI 92X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s is collected, processed and stored and then transported to the company's factory at Bombay. The prosecution case is that the aforesaid premises are a factory. The appellant was prosecuted and tried for contravention of 16(1) of the Factories Act 1948 and rules 3 and 5(3) of the Andhra Pradesh Factory Rules 1950 for operating the factory without obtaining a licence from the Chief Inspector of Factories and his previous permission approving the plans of the building. The appellant's defence was that the premises did not constitute a factory and it was not necessary for him to obtain the licence or permission. The 2nd Addl. Munsif Magistrate, Eluru, accepted the defence contention and acquitted the appellant. According to the Magistr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d January 15, 1966; (Ex. P5); (4) the testimony of PW 2 B. P. Chandrareddi, the Provident Fund Inspector; and (5) Six returns (Exs. P7 to P12), submitted by the Eluru establishment, to the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner. The materials on the record show that in the company's Eluru premises, sun-cured tobacco leaves bought from the growers were subjected to the processes of moistening, stripping and packing. The tobacco leaves were moistened so that they may be handled without breakage. The moistening was done for 10 to 14 days by sprinkling water on stacks of tobacco and shifting the top and bottom layers. The stalks were stripped from the leaves. The Thukku (wholly spoilt) and Pagu (partly spoilt) leaves were separated. The leav ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e packing of the tobacco leaves were done with a view to their use and transport. All these processes are manufacturing processes within s. 2 (k) (i). The reported cases are of little help in deciding whether a particular process is a manufacturing process as defined in s. 2 (k) (i). In State of Kerala v. V. M. Patel(1) the Court held that the work of garbling pepper by winnowing, cleaning, washing and drying it on concrete floor and a similar process of curing ginger dipped in lime and laid out to dry in a warehouse were manufacturing processes. With regard to the decision in Col. Sardar C. S. Angre v. The State (2 ) it is sufficient to say that the work of sorting and drying potatoes and packing and re-packing them into bags was held not ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d by contract of service between them. In Short v. J. W. Henderson Limited(1) Lord Thankerton recapitulated four indicia of a contract of service. As stated in Halsbury's Laws of England, 3rd ed. vol. 25, p. 448, Art. "The following have been stated to be the indicia of a contract of service, namely, (1) the master's power of selection of his servant; (2) the payment of wages or other remuneration; (3) the master's right to control the method of doing the work; and (4) the master's right of suspension or dismissal (Short v. J. and W. Henderson Ltd. (1946 S. C. (H. L.) 24, at pp. 33, 34, Could v. Minister of National Insurance, [1951] 1. K. B. 731 at P. 734; [1951] All E. R. 368 at p.371; Pauley V. Kenaldo Ltd. [1953] 1 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in the factory imply a certain amount of supervision by the management. The Court held that the nature and extent of control varied in different industries and that when the operation was of a simple nature the control could be exercised at the end of the day by the method of rejecting the bidis which did not come up to the proper standard. In the present case, the prosecution relied on (1) Ex. P7 to P12, (2) the testimony of PWI and (3) Exs. P1 and P5 to prove that the persons working at the company's premises' at Eluru were employed by the management. Exhibits P7 to P12 are monthly returns for July to December 1966 submitted by the company's Eluru establishment to the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner under paragraph 38(2) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not dispute the fact that 120 persons were working there. PW1 found workmen doing the work of stripping stalks from the tobacco leaves. The work of stripping was being done under the supervision of the management's clerk J. Satyanarain Rao. At the end of the day the clerk collected the stripped tobacco and noted the quantity of work done in the work sheet allotted to the worker. PW1 found some workmen doing other work. The onus of proving that the workmen were employed by the management was on the prosecution. We think that the prosecution has discharged this onus. It is not disputed that more than 20 persons worked in the premises regularly every day. There is the positive evidence of PW1 that the work of stripping stalks from the tob ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
