STATE Vs. KUNJA BEHARI CHANDRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The reference and the applications in revision have been heard together and they will be governed by this one judgment.

(2.) The reference has been made by the Subordinate Judge, Special Magistrate of Dhanbad and it purports to be under Section 432, Criminal P. C., as re-enacted by the Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1951. In the court of the Special Magistrate, there are pending four criminal cases, being Nos. 19/1 of 1951/52, 20/2 of 1951/52 17/3 Of 1951/52 and 149/4 of 1950/52, and they are being tried together with the consent of the parties as similar questions of law arise in each of them. The accused persons in those cases are colliery owners and managers.

(3.) In cases Nos. 19/1 and 20/2 of 1951/52, the colliery involved is one Kirkend Colliery. On the 11th October, 1950, one Miss Gulati, an Assistant Inspectress, went to inspect that colliery and she found that neither any pithead bath had been constructed at the colliery as required under the Coal Mines Pithead Bath Rules, 1946, nor any creche as required by the the Mines Creche Rules, 1946. The Mines Creche Rules have been made by the Central Government in exercise of the powers conferred upon it by Sub-section Cbb) of Section 30, Coal Mines Act (4 of 1923) and the Coal Mines Pithead Bath Rules have also been made by the Central Government in exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-section (bbb) of Section 30 of that Act. Rule 3 (a) of the Mines Creche Rules provides that the owner of every mine shall construct thereat a creche in accordance with plans prepared in conformity with these Rules and previously approved by the competent authority; and Rule 3(1) of the Coal Mines Pithead Bath rules provides that the owner of every coal mine shall construct thereat a pithead bath in accordance with plans prepared in conformity with these Rules and approved by the competent authority. Accordingly, the colliery owners and the manager are being prosecuted under Section 39, Indian Mines Act, 1923 for contravening the provisions of Rule 3(a) of the Mines Creche Rules, and this prosecution has given rise to Case No. 19/1 of 1951/52; and they are further being prosecuted under Section 39, Indian Mines Act for a contravention of Rule 3(1) of the Coal Mines Pithead Bath Rules, and this has given rise to Case No. 20/2 of 1951/52.