Factories Act interpretation: open land salt works and labour-assisted salt making can fall within the definition of a factory.

The Bombay HC construed "premises" in the Factories Act, 1948 broadly to include open land, holding that salt works were not excluded merely because they were not enclosed buildings. It also treated the making of salt by solar evaporation with human labour as a "manufacturing process" because the workers used reservoirs, channels, pans and other manual operations to treat the material for use, sale and transport. On that approach, the salt works fell within the statutory definition of a factory, and operating them without the required licence attracted liability.

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Issues: (i) Whether the word "premises" in Section 2(m) of the Factories Act, 1948 includes open land on which salt works are situated; (ii) Whether the making of salt by solar evaporation with the aid of human labour is a "manufacturing process" within Section 2(k)(1) of the Factories Act, 1948.

Issue (i): Whether the word "premises" in Section 2(m) of the Factories Act, 1948 includes open land on which salt works are situated.

Analysis: The definition of factory in the Act was read in the light of the welfare object of the statute and the scheme of labour protection provisions. The substitution of the expression "premises including the precincts thereof" and the use of the word "whereon" indicated that the legislature intended a wider meaning than buildings alone. Support was also drawn from the use of the expression "premises or building" in Section 7(1)(bb) of the Factories Act, 1948 and from the accepted meaning of "premises" in analogous welfare legislation.

Conclusion: The word "premises" includes land, and the salt works were not excluded on the ground that they were open land.

Issue (ii): Whether the making of salt by solar evaporation with the aid of human labour is a "manufacturing process" within Section 2(k)(1) of the Factories Act, 1948.

Analysis: The workmen were not merely leaving sea water to evaporate naturally. They prepared and used reservoirs, channels, tapavanis and crystallising pans, worked pumps when necessary, separated the sea water for production, scraped, sieved and packed the salt, and thereby subjected the material to treatment for use, sale and transport. The expression "otherwise treating" was construed broadly and not as limited to chemical treatment. On that approach, the human activity involved in the salt works amounted to a manufacturing process.

Conclusion: The salt works involved a manufacturing process within Section 2(k)(1).

Final Conclusion: The salt works answered the statutory definition of a factory, and the respondent was liable for operating them without the required licence.

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