Electronics Shop Repairing & Servicing Electrical Goods Is “Factory” Under ESI Act

M/S J.P.LIGHTS INDIA (appellant) and THE REGIONAL DIRECTOR E.S.I. CORPORATION, BANGALORE (respondent). The case involves the appellant’s challenge against the order of the Employees State Insurance Court, Bangalore, regarding the applicability of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948.

The key points in the document include:

1. The appellant, a sole proprietorship firm, challenged the orders and notices of recovery issued by the respondent-Corporation under the Employees State Insurance Act.
2. The ESI Court dismissed the appellant’s plea, and the High Court upheld the decision, leading to the current appeal in the Supreme Court.
3. The appellant argued that it does not fall under the definition of “Factory” as defined in the ESI Act and the Factories Act, 1948.
4. The Supreme Court examined relevant provisions of the ESI Act and the Factories Act, particularly the definitions of “factory” and “manufacturing process.”
5. The Court concluded that the appellant’s business of selling and repairing electrical goods falls under the definition of a “Factory” and involves a “manufacturing process.”
6. The appellant’s use of electrical energy for selling and repairing electrical goods is considered as using “power” as defined in the ESI Act.
7. The Court upheld the decisions of the lower courts and dismissed the appeal as meritless.

The order was delivered on 27th July 2023 by Justices Hima Kohli and Rajesh Bindal in New Delhi. The appeal was dismissed, and each party was directed to bear its own expenses.