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Hemant Madhusudan Nerurkar v. State of Jharkhand and another

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 442 of 2016)Decided 4 May 2016
Criminal Appeal No. 442 of 2016
Justice J.S. Khehar · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

Following a factory inspection at Tata Steel's Growth Shop, several violations were found under the Factories Act and Bihar/Jharkhand Factories Rules: contract labourers were given overtime work without the required overtime slips, were not issued leave books, and the factory canteen had several hygiene and facility shortcomings. Criminal proceedings were initiated against the factory's "occupier," Hemant Madhusudan Nerurkar, and its manager, Rupam Bhaduri, who challenged the prosecution before the High Court of Jharkhand (which declined to quash it) and then appealed to the Supreme Court. Over several hearings, the Supreme Court monitored whether the appellants fixed the violations, and by the final hearing all defects, including the two relating to contract labourers, had been rectified and confirmed by affidavit.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that, following its own earlier ruling in J.K. Industries Ltd. v. Chief Inspector of Factories, offences under the Factories Act are "strict liability" public-welfare offences for which the occupier and manager are held liable regardless of personal fault or criminal intent (mens rea), so it could not interfere with the High Court's refusal to quash the prosecution. However, because the appellants had since fixed every violation and both sides agreed a protracted trial served no useful purpose, the Court exercised its discretion to impose a fixed penalty of Rs. 50,000 on each appellant in lieu of continued prosecution, to be deposited before the trial court within four weeks, and disposed of the pending criminal case on that basis.

Lesson Learnt

Factory safety and labour-welfare laws impose "strict liability" on the occupier and manager of a factory, a genuine lack of personal knowledge or intent is not a defense to the underlying contravention, but once violations are rectified, courts retain discretion to resolve a prosecution through a proportionate penalty rather than forcing a full criminal trial.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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