20 January 2012
Section 2(n) of the Factories Act, 1948 states that `occupier' of a factory means the person who has ultimate control over the affairs of the factory; provided that in the case of a company, any one of the directors,shall be deemed to be the occupier
The Supreme Court has held that in the case of a company, the occupier of a factory owned by a company would mean any one of the directors of the company who has been notified/identified by the company to have ultimate control over the affairs of the factory. And where no such director has been identified, then, for the purposes of prosecution and punishment under the Act, the Inspector of Factories may initiate proceedings against anyone of the directors as the deemed occupier.