Electricity installation exemption for a supply company's own works was upheld, defeating the unlicensed contractor allegation.

Installation works carried out by an electric supply company at its own expense and retained as its property were treated as falling within the exemption for the company's "own works" under the relevant electricity notification. The Bombay HC construed Rule 48 of the Indian Electricity Rules, 1937, and the corresponding Rule 40A of the 1922 Rules, together with the exemption notification, broadly and declined to limit the exemption to works on the company's own premises or to a narrower supply-line meaning. On that basis, the allegation that installation work had been done without an electrical contractor's licence was rejected, no breach of the electricity rule was established, and the acquittal was upheld.

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Issues: Whether the accused's installation works fell within the exemption granted to electric supply companies as their "own works" under the notification issued under the Indian Electricity Rules, and whether a breach of the licensing requirement under the applicable electricity rule was made out.

Analysis: The charge proceeded on the footing that installation work was done without an electrical contractor's licence. The Court examined the applicability of Rule 48 of the Indian Electricity Rules, 1937, and the corresponding Rule 40A of the Indian Electricity Rules, 1922, together with the exemption notification issued for electric supply companies. It held that, even assuming the earlier rule remained operative, the notification was framed in terms broad enough to cover installation works carried out by the company at its own expense and retained as its property. The expression "their own works" was read in the context of the rule itself, not by importing the narrower definition of works connected only with supply lines. The suggested limitation that the exemption applied only to works on the company's own premises was not accepted.

Conclusion: No breach of the relevant electricity rule was established, and the acquittal was upheld.

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