A.P.Srivastava, J. - (1.) This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution.
(2.) The petitioner is a limited company and carries on the business of manufacturing paper. One of the materials used by it for manufacturing paper is bankas grass. This grass is obtained by the petitioner from the forests of Nepal and brought to the rail heads within the Indian territory. One of such rail heads is Nepalganj road in the district of Bahraich. At the rail head the grass is packed into bundles with the help of manually operated baling presses. The bundles are then loaded in railway wagons for transport and taken to the company's mills at Yamuna Nagar in the Punjab where they are converted into paper. On 13 March 1961, the Inspector of Factories, who is impleaded in the petition as the sole respondent, issued a notice to the managing agents of the petitioner saying that a manufacturing process was being carried on at the bankas depot at Nepalganj road railway station and that the said premises and precincts constituted a factory within the meaning of Section 2(m)(2) of the Factories Act, 1948,
(3.) The notice required that the particulars necessary under the Factories Act be supplied and licence be obtained for working the depot as a factory. Objection was taken to that notice on the ground that what was being done at the bankas depot at Nepalganj road did not amount to manufacturing process as defined in the Factories Act. This contention was, however, not accepted by the respondent who insisted that the requirements of the Factories Act should be complied with. Several notices have been issued by him in that connexion. By the present petition, the petitioner wants a writ of mandamus to be issued directing the respondent to withdraw all those notices, dated 13 March 1961, 6 May 1961, 28 October 1961 and 30 November 1961. Another writ of mandamus is prayed for directing the respondent not to take any proceedings against the petitioning company consequent upon the aforesaid notices.;