1. This is a petition under S. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to quash the proceedings in S.T.C. No. 202 of 1982 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Vellore. The accused is the petitioner herein.

2. An interesting question arises in this petition as to whether the Laundry Department in the Christian Medical College Hospital at Vellore is a factory. The respondent-Inspector of Factories, Vellore, has filed a criminal prosecution against the petitioner who is the General Superintendent of the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore for infringement of S. 6(1) and 7(1) of the Factories Act and the Rules there under.

3. It is not in dispute that the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore is not a factory for no manufacturing process is carried on there. It is urges on behalf of the petitioner and it is not disputed that the laundry in the hospital is an integral part of the hospital and is, intended to wash the linen used in the hospital, and that neither the clothes of the employees of the hospital; nor the clothes of the patients admitted in the hospital, are washed in the said laundry. It is also the contention of the petitioner that the work in th