1. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in their landmark judgment in the matter of J.K. Industries Limited Vs. Chief Inspector of Factories {1997(I) LLJ722} held that under Section 2(n) of the Factories Act, 1948, a company director can be considered the “occupier”. This ruling has significantly made the occupiers vulnerable to criminal prosecution by the Factory Inspectorate because of complicated compliances under the Factories Act 1948. The situation becomes more complicated when accidents, whether fatal or not, occur within the factory. In some instances, directors located far away from the factory where an incident occurred, have been summoned by local courts following criminal complaints filed by the Factory Inspectorate. This places a substantial burden on the occupier, who is supposed to attend numerous hearings.
2. The prosecutions under the labour law amount to criminal prosecutions. Even minor violations of labour laws like the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970 and the like, have led to the prosecution of prominent...
