Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter V. - Working conditions in factories

Collection:: Economics Books

74 CHAPTER V. not infrequently the fine is smaller than the profit made by the offender out of the offence. On occasion Governments have drawn the attention of magistrates to the importance of adequate fines, and one High Court issued a circular on the question. We consider that more use should be made of the power of appeal to the High Court against inadequate sen- tences. One or two striking cases should be brought before the supreme court of a province, whose action would probably serve as a useful guide to subordinate courts. In Bengal, where there is good ground for complaint on the score of inadequate fines, the Government, although joining in the complaint, seems to have made little or no use of the possibilities of appeal. In every district, all factory cases should go before experienced magistrates and, where possible, the same magistrate, In the larger centres, it shonld be possible always to appoint a magistrate with some previous experience of the subject. Defects in the Law. At the same time defects in the law are partly responsible for the present deficiencies. Unlike the British law, the Indian Act contains no special provisions relating to second offences. Tt seems, indeed, doubt- ful if evidence of previous convictions can be led. and the absurdly inade- quate punishment meted out to hardened offenders is probably due in some cases to the fact that the magistrate was not in possession of the offender’s record in respect of the Act. We consider that the law should be amended in two directions. In the first place, it should be possible to adduce evidence of any previous convictions of the accused under the Act after conviction and before sentence, as such convictions are in most cases very relevant in determining the appropriate sentence. In the second place, the Act should provide that, where a second offence is proved against the same accused within a period of two years from the last conviction for an offence in the same category, the fine should not be less than one-fifth of the maximum penalty possible, and for a third or subse- quent offence, not less than one half. In order to meet the possibility that extreme hardship might result from such a provision in an exceptional case, it might be provided that the magistrate may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, reduce the fine below these limits in exceptional cirenmstances, Conduct of Prosecutions. At present the position of the factory inspector in prosecutions seems to be open to doubt. He is ordinarily the complainant and he is generally the principal witness. Some courts allow him to act, formally or otherwise, as prosecutor and to examine other witnesses ; others regard this as not in accordance with the law. In important cases counsel can be and are engaged by Government, and this practice is to be encouraged ; but in smaller cases, when the Inspector is not allowed to conduct the pro- secution, there is either no prosecutor, or the prosecuting inspector may be employed. The latteris a police officer, and the majority of officers of this class have no experience of factory cases. Chief Inspectors in all cases and other factory inspectors, when authorised by the lccal Government, should be competent to act as prosecutors. and we recommend that this be laid down in the relevant Act.

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