The Factories Act, 1948
CHAPTER X: PENALTIES AND PROCEDURE
Section 92: General Penalty For Offences
Bare Act
Save as is otherwise expressly provided in this Act and subject to the provisions of section 93, if in, or in respect of, any factory there is any contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rules made thereunder or of any order in writing given thereunder, the occupier and manager of the factory shall each be guilty of an offence and punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees or with both, and if the contravention is continued after conviction, with a further fine which may extend to one thousand rupees for each day on which the contravention is so continued:
Provided that where contravention of any of the provisions of Chapter IV or any rule made thereunder or under section 87 has resulted in an accident causing death or serious bodily injury, the fine shall not be less than twenty - five thousand rupees in the case of an accident causing death, and five thousand rupees in the case of an accident causing serious bodily injury.
Explanation - In this section and in section 94 "serious bodily injury" means an injury which involves, or in all probability will involve, the permanent loss of the use of, or permanent injury to, any limb or the permanent loss of, or injury to, sight or hearing, or the fracture of any bone, but shall not include, the fracture of bone or joint (not being fracture of more than one bone or joint) of any phalanges of the hand or foot.
STATE AMENDMENT
Maharashtra
Insertion of section 92A in 63 of 1948
After section 92 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:
92A Compounding of certain offences
- The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, prescribe in respect of the offences specified in the Fourth Schedule, which may before the institution of the prosecution, be compounded by such officer not below the rank of Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories and for such amount as may be prescribed but the amount of fine shall not be more than the fine prescribed under section 92:
Provided that, the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, amend the Fourth Schedule by way of addition, omission or variation of any offence specified in the said Schedule.
- Where an offence has been compounded under sub - section (1), no further proceedings shall be taken against the offender in respect of such offence.
Vide Maharashtra Act 40 of 2015, s. 7.
Simplified Act
Simplified Explanation of Section 92 of The Factories Act, 1948:
If a factory breaks any rules of this Act, or any rules or written orders made under it, both the person in charge of the factory (occupier) and the manager can be charged with a crime. They could face up to two years in jail, a fine up to 100,000 rupees, or both. If they keep breaking the rule after being convicted, they can be fined an additional 1,000 rupees for each day they continue to do so.
If the rule-breaking caused an accident that led to someone's death or a serious injury, the fine must be at least 25,000 rupees for a death and 5,000 rupees for a serious injury.
Note: "Serio… Read the complete text with KanoonGPT Pro.
Explanation using examples
Imagine a factory in Maharashtra where the safety guardrails around a machine are not up to the standards prescribed by the Factories Act. One day, a worker loses his balance and falls against the machine, suffering serious injuries that lead to the permanent loss of use of his arm. An inspection reveals that the factory had not complied with the safety regulations.
As a result, under Section 92 of the Factories Act, 1948, the occupier and manager of the factory can be held responsible for this contravention. They could face a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, and since the accident resulted in serious bodily injury, the fine imposed must be at least five thousand rupees. If they had been previously convicted and the unsafe conditions continued, they could also face a further fine for each day the contravention continued after conviction.
In this scenario, the Maharashtra State Amendment allows for the possibility of the offence being compounded before prosecution. This means that the factory manager could agree to pay a prescribed compounding fee to an officer not below the rank of Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories, and if this is done, no further legal proceedings would be pursued for this particular offence.
