Factory License for Battery Production in Ambala Cantt: What Are the Requirements and Who Issues It?

Does a firm producing nickel-cadmium batteries and lithium-ion batteries in Ambala Cantt, Haryana require obtaining a factory license? If so, from whom should they obtain it? Can one produce these types of batteries without obtaining a factory license? Who is authorized to issue the factory license in the scenario mentioned above?

I don't know what prompted you to post such a query. Is it the product, the process, the scale of production, the place of production, the number of workers to be employed, or the purpose for which such products are to be used? Producing cadmium and lithium-ion batteries is certainly a "manufacturing process" as defined under Section 2(k) of the Factories Act, 1948.

If any place where any manufacturing process is carried out by employing 10 or more workers with the aid of power or 20 or more workers without the aid of power, such place is a "factory" as defined under Section 2(m) of the Factories Act, 1948. Approval of plans, registration, and licensing of such places to be used as a factory is a must under Section 6 of the Act if the above two conditions are satisfied.

I suggest you make inquiries with the Office of the Inspector of Factories for your area.

Thank you, Mr. Umakanthan, for your kind reply. I have seen a factory at Ambala Cantt, Industrial Area, Haryana, where a factory is manufacturing nickel-cadmium batteries, lithium-ion batteries, and other types of batteries. They have about 40+ workers. They have an office-cum-production unit on the ground floor, a residence on the first floor, and a production unit on the second floor. They have applied for a factory license from the year 1994 to 2017 and have paid the license fees honestly. However, the firm has not been granted a Factory Act license by the competent authority. One reason cited was that the competent authority is expecting beyond the limits of the firm. Thus, it is awaited.

Under the above circumstances, I had posted an earlier query. Thus, I wish to know what reasons are causing the authorities to refrain from issuing a Factory Act license. Without it, can one continue manufacturing the above batteries and supplying them to various departments and agencies in India and abroad? What will be the repercussions? Can a factory be on the ground and second floors with a residence on the first floor of the same building? Can the bond room or secure room for storing finished products be on the first and/or second floor, or should it be on the ground? These questions may be answered in reference to the Factory Act, please.

Dear Mr. Venkata Krishna,

It may not be nice to field certain types of counterquestions as a reply. However, the antecedents described in the question may, at times, compel the respondent to pose such counterquestions in order to answer the questioner rather than the mere question. The elaborate details furnished by you subsequently give me an impression that you are in some way or other connected with the issue. Also, your drafts indicate that you are a knowledgeable person who need not be briefed about the consequences of violating the basic provisions of an important law like the Factories Act, 1948. Therefore, it would not be out of context to ask you how you are interested in this issue - as a manufacturer who was denied plan approval and a license under the Act, or a worker employed in that facility, or a trade union leader representing the workers employed therein, or a social activist skeptical about the hazards in the manufacturing process?

Non-grant of a license

Coming to the question of the non-grant of a license to the premises in spite of the submission of applications right from 1994 to 2017. Please ensure whether the application for approval of plan, permission for construction, and requiring registration and grant of a license as per Sec.6(1) of the Factories Act, 1948 r.w the relevant State Rules was sent by registered post and was rejected by the concerned authority. If no order was communicated by the concerned authority within three months from the date it was received, Sec.6(2) of the Act provides for what is called "automatic approval" or deemed approval, in which case you cannot be proceeded u/s 92 of the Act for penal action. Why didn’t the owner/occupier move the High Court of the State for giving direction to the authority so far?

Clearances from Pollution Control Board and Local Body

It is also important to determine whether you have obtained clearances from the Pollution Control Board and Local Body for using the particular premises for the manufacture of the above batteries whose toxic effluents require safe disposal.