J U D G M E N T

S. Siri Jagan, J The defeated employer before the Employees Insurance Court, Kollam, in I.C.No.45/2003, who contested coverage of his establishment under the Employees' State Insurance Company Act, 1948 ('the Act' for short) in the I.C., is the appellant herein. The appellant is running a petrol pump. The respondent sought to cover the establishment of the appellant under the Employees' State Insurance Act, on the ground that the establishment employs 12 persons in the establishment.

2. According to the appellant, the appellant employs only 9 persons. Appellant filed the application challenging the order of the respondent, covering the establishment under the Employees' State Insurance Act, by filing the I.C. before the Employees Insurance Court. Before the Employees' Insurance Court, he produced the statutory registers like, muster roll and wages register, wherein only 9 employees were mentioned, but the respondent took the stand that, the employees of the appellant themselves had given two lists of 12 employees working in the establishment, which was marked in evidence and relying on those evidence, the E.I court came to the conclusion that the appellant is employi