TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2009 (9) TMI 1097
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....than 10 or more employees. 3) The appellant also states, that power is being used for operating coffee roaster and bottle cooler. It is its further case, that, since it has not employed 10 or more employees, the provisions of the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 (hereinafter referred to as `ESI Act') are not attracted to the appellants' establishment. 4) The insurance inspector of the ESI corporation had visited the business premises of the appellant on 11.12.1998 and 07.01.1999, and inspected the records from April 1994 and had recorded that the appellant had employed more than 10 employees as on 01.04.1994, as per the records and was using power for the coffee roasting machine and the bottle cooler and as such the appellant's restaurant stood covered under the ESI Act with effect from 01.04.1994, and therefore, the appellant should have started complying with the mandatory provisions of ESI Act. 5) The Deputy Director of ESI corporation, by incorporating the report of the insurance inspector by his letter dated 18.02.1999, had directed the appellant to pay contributions from April, 1994, and submit Form-01 at the earliest. In response to the aforesaid letter, the appellant....
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....rther by filing Misc. Appeal before the High Court and the same was dismissed following the earlier ruling of the Court in ESI Corpn. Vs. Bhagat Ram and Sons and Anr., reported in 2001 (2) Labour Laws Journal 973. 10) The appellant being aggrieved by the judgment and order passed by the High Court in Misc. First Appeal No. 4152 of 2001, is before us in this appeal. 11) The facts in Misc. First Appeal No. 1954 of 2002 are more or less similar to the facts in the other appeal which we have already noticed. The only additional fact is that, the appellants in this appeal manufacture sweets and savories by using cooking gas and the number of employees employed by them was not more than 17 (seventeen) at any point of time. They were also unsuccessful before all the forums. 12) The learned senior counsel for the appellants submitted, that, liquefied petroleum gas (`LPG for short') by itself is not energy and the transmission of gas to the gas burners is not the transmission of any energy. Elaborating on this issue, the learned senior counsel contended that, it is only when the gas is ignited through the burner, the gas is converted into heat energy and, as such, there is no t....
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.... and Ors., [(1973) 1 SCC 813] and G. Giriyappa and Ors. Vs. Anantharai L. Parekh and Anr., [(1994) 3 SCC 489]. The sum and substance of the submission of the learned senior counsel is that LPG gas cannot be considered as power as defined in Section 2(g) of the Factories Act, 1948. 13) The learned counsel appearing for respondents submitted that the use of LPG gas for the purpose of cooking has to be treated as use of Power and therefore, the appellants are required to comply with the provisions of the ESI Act. 14) The issues that require to be decided in these appeals are:- (I) Whether the establishment of the appellants' is covered under the provisions of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948. (II) Whether the use of LPG gas is use of power as defined under the Act. 15) The Employees State Insurance Act is a beneficial legislation. The main purpose of the enactment as the Preamble suggests, is to provide for certain benefits to employees of a factory in case of sickness, maternity and employment injury and to make provision for certain other matters in relation thereto. 16) The Employees State Insurance Act is a social security legislation and the cannons of interpreting....
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....energy which is mechanically transmitted and is not generated by human or animal agency. 21) Essentially for qualifying the establishment of the appellants as factory, the following conditions needs to be satisfied:- (i) Manufacturing process was being carried out in the establishment. (ii) There was power being used to aid the manufacturing process being carried out. (iii) 10 or more workers were working in the establishment any day in the preceding twelve months, if power was being used to aid the manufacturing process, or (iv) 20 or more workers were working in the establishment any day in the preceding twelve months, if power was not being used to aid the manufacturing process. 22) Therefore, first it needs to be proved as to whether there is manufacturing process carried on in the establishment of the appellants. Manufacturing process is defined under Section 2(k) of the Factories Act as:- "Manufacturing process means any process for- (i) making, altering, repairing, ornamenting, finishing, packing, oiling, washing, cleaning, breaking up, demolishing, or otherwise treating or adapting any article or substance with a view to its use sale, transport, delivery or di....
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....Gas, or LPG. The article is extracted: "Liquefied petroleum gas, also called LP Gas or LPG, any of several liquid mixture of the volatile hydrocarbons propene, propane, butene, and butane. It was used as early as 1860 for a portable fuel source, and its production and consumption for both domestic and industrial use have expanded ever since. A typical commercial mixture may also contain ethane and ethylene as well as a volatile mercaptan, an odorant added as a safety precaution." 27) LPG or LPG gas is the abbreviation of liquefied petroleum gas. This group of products includes saturated hydrocarbons, propane and butane, which can be stored and transported separately or as a mixture. This is called liquefied petroleum gas, because these gases liquefy under moderate pressure. LPG is used as a fuel for domestic (cooking), industrial, horticulture, agricultural, heating and drying processes. LPG can be used as an automotive fuel or as a propellant for aerosols, in addition to other specialists applications. LPG can also be used to provide lighting through the use of pressure lanterns. 28) The gas cylinder is filled with a liquefied fuel gas, such as liquefied butane or the like, ha....