Contract labour inside the factory counted toward workforce threshold, defeating excise exemption under the notification.

Workers engaged through independent contractors for specialised fabrication inside the factory were counted as part of the factory workforce for exemption purposes. The Tribunal treated their labour as directly assisting manufacture within the factory and rejected the argument that, in the absence of a statutory definition of "worker" in excise law, they should be excluded by reference to another statute. On the evidence, the total number of persons working with the aid of power exceeded the relevant threshold of 49, so Notification No. 54/75-C.E. was not available.

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Issues: Whether workers engaged through independent contractors for specialised fabrication work inside the factory were to be counted as workers for the purpose of denying exemption under Notification No. 54/75-C.E.

Analysis: The exemption turned on whether the factory had more than 49 workers working with the aid of power. The Tribunal held that the contractors' men were not outside the factory in the manner of independent workers carrying on a separate stage of production elsewhere; they worked directly inside the factory, assisted in the manufacture of the goods, and their labour was part of the factory's total workforce. The absence of a statutory definition of "worker" in the excise law did not justify excluding them, and the meaning adopted in a different statute was treated as inapposite on the facts. On the evidence, the number of persons working in the factory exceeded the threshold.

Conclusion: The workers engaged through contractors were to be counted, the exemption was unavailable, and the appeal failed.

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