Factory worker definition under the Factories Act applied to raw-material supervision and related factory work; complaint held not maintainable.

A person employed in a factory in work connected with raw materials, carried on in the factory premises or precincts, falls within the definition of "worker" under the Factories Act, 1948 even if the work is not part of the actual manufacturing operation. On the facts, the respondent supervised and checked raw materials, maintained records, passed supplier bills, and worked within the factory premises; he was therefore a factory worker, not an employee under the Bihar Shops & Establishments Act, 1953. His complaint under section 26(2) was consequently not maintainable, and the orders of the Labour Court and High Court were set aside.

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Issues: Whether the respondent was a factory worker within the meaning of the Factories Act, 1948, and therefore not an employee under the Bihar Shops & Establishments Act, 1953, so as to make the complaint under section 26(2) maintainable.

Analysis: The definition of employee under the Bihar Act included persons employed in a factory who were not workers within the meaning of the Factories Act and who were not working in a managerial capacity. The respondent was not in managerial capacity, so the decisive question was whether his duties brought him within the definition of worker in section 2(1) of the Factories Act. The work found by the Labour Court showed that he supervised and checked the quality and weighment of raw materials such as waste paper and rags, maintained records, passed supplier bills, and worked in the factory premises and its precincts. Raw materials used in manufacture were held to be the subject of the manufacturing process, and work connected with such raw materials in the factory precincts was treated as work connected with the manufacturing process.

Conclusion: The respondent was a factory worker within section 2(1) of the Factories Act, 1948, was not an employee under the Bihar Shops & Establishments Act, 1953, and his complaint under section 26(2) was not maintainable.

Final Conclusion: The orders of the Labour Court and the High Court were set aside and the complaint was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: A person employed in a factory in work connected with the factory's raw materials, carried on in the factory premises or precincts, is a worker under the Factories Act even if the work is not part of the actual manufacturing operation.

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