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TMI Blog1954 (10) TMI 46X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rder to obtain a clarification of the law, this has been selected as a test case. 2. The appellant is the owner of a small establishment called the Honesty Engineering Works situate in Ahmedabad in the State of Bombay. He employs three workers. He does business in a very small way by going to certain local mills, collecting orders from them for spare parts, manufacturing the parts so ordered in his workshop, delivering them to the mills when ready and collecting the money therefore. No buying or selling is done on the premises. The question is whether a concern of this nature is a "shop" within the meaning of section 2(27) of the Act. The learned trying Magistrate held that it was not and so acquitted. The High Court, on an appea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... such" in the phrase "such trade or business" relates back to the opening words of the definition which read - "any premises where goods are sold." 6. He argues that the emphasis is on the words "goods are sold" and not on the word "premises" because a trade or business relates to the buying and selling of goods and is not confined to the premises where that occurs. He admits that the main portion of the definition which relates to "premises" where goods are sold" cannot exclude the "premises" element and that unless there are premises on which goods are sold, the main portion of the definition cannot apply, e.g., in the case of a street hawker or of a man who totes his good ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... premises as a small portion which is carved out of the larger whole. The second part of the definition is linked on to the carved out area and not to the circle as a whole. The word "such" confines what follows to what has gone before and what has gone before is not the trade of selling in general but only that part of the trade of selling which is carried on defined premises. Counsel argues that there is no justification for ignoring the limitation which the Legislature has placed on the main portion of the definition and holding that "such" relates to a much wider classification of "selling" which the main portion of the definition not only does not envisage but has deliberately excluded. We think that as a m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rocess of notification in the Official Gazette. In reaching this conclusion we are influenced by the policy of the Central Legislature on an allied topic. We do not intend to break the general rule that points to the undesirability of interpreting the provisions of one Act by those of another passed by a different Legislature, but as we have already decided the question of construction and interpretation and are now considering only the general policy of the State Legislature, we deem it right to view the matter in its larger aspect for the special reasons we shall now enumerate. 10. Now the Central Act, the Factories Act of 1948, was passed on the 23rd of September, 1948. The Bombay Act, though entitled Act LXXIX of 1948, was not passed t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erpretations of section 2(27) are possible, we prefer the one which, in our opinion, better accords with the logical construction of the words used. 11. The learned High Court Judges were influenced by matters which we consider inconclusive. The appellant applied for registration under the Bombay Act and in the statement made under section 7 he called his establishment a "workshop" and described the nature of his business as a "factory". The learned Judges considered that this imported an admission that his establishment was a "shop" because of the use of the word "shop" in "workshop". This might have raised an inference of fact against the appellant had nothing else been known but when the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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