Worker definition under the Factories Act excludes independent contractors and their coolies absent control and supervision.

Under the Factories Act, 1948, the duties to maintain a register of adult workers and ensure consistency with working-hour notices apply only to persons employed in the factory under a contract of service and subject to the management's control and supervision. Applying that test, independent contractors who manufacture bidis on their own account are not "workers" merely because they supply goods to the factory, and their coolies are likewise outside the definition where they are engaged by the contractor, not the factory. In such circumstances, omission of their names from the register does not amount to a breach attracting liability.

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Issues: Whether persons engaged by an independent contractor to manufacture bidis, and the contractor himself, were "workers" employed by the factory within the meaning of the Factories Act, 1948, so as to attract the obligations to maintain a register of adult workers and ensure correspondence with the notice of working hours.

Analysis: The statutory scheme of the Factories Act, 1948 shows that the duties under sections 62 and 63 attach to persons who are employed in the factory under the management and are subject to its control and supervision. The definition of "worker" in section 2(1) requires employment directly or through an agency, but the employment must still be referable to a contract of service and not merely a contract for service. Applying the settled test of control and supervision, the Court held that the Sattedars were independent contractors who undertook to supply bidis on their own account and were free to conduct the work where and how they pleased. Their coolies were employed by them, not by the factory management, and there was no privity of contract or employment between them and the factory.

Conclusion: The Sattedars and their coolies were not workers within the meaning of the Act, so non-entry of their names in the register and the alleged breach of sections 62 and 63 did not constitute an offence under section 92.

Ratio Decidendi: For the Factories Act, 1948, a "worker" is a person employed by the factory under a contract of service and subject to the employer's control and supervision; an independent contractor and his servants or coolies are outside the definition unless the contractual relationship shows real employment by the factory.

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