No suit, prosecution, or other legal proceedings shall lie against any public servant or any other person in the service of this Union Territory acting under the direction of any such public servant for anything in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of the provisions of this Act or any rule or order made thereunder.
COMMENTS The object of this section is to afford protection to a public servant or any other person in the service of this Union Territory acting under the direction of any such public servant for anything done or intended to be done in good faith for carrying out the provisions of this Act or any rule or order made thereunder. But a plain reading of this section shows that it not only protects the inspecting staff but its protection also extends to any public servant or any other person in the service of the Union Territory of Delhi acting under the direction of any inspecting staff for anything done in good faith or intended to be done in pursuance of the provisions of this Act or any rule or order made thereunder; State of Gujarat v. Kausara Manilal Bhikhanlal, AIR 1964 SC 1893: (1965) (1) Cri. LJ 90: (1964) 9 Fac. LR 147: (1964-65) 26 FJR 277: (1964) 2 Lab. LJ 456:
(1965) 2 SCJ 385. (In this case the Supreme Court was constructing a similar provision of the Factories Act). The tests for determining whether section 39 applies to a suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings are: (1) whether the person proceeded against can reasonably claim that the act complained of and done or intended to be done by him was necessitated by one or more of the provisions of the Act, and (2) whether he acted in good faith to give effect to the provisions of the Act. The first test could be satisfied if a duty, whether of a positive or of a negative character, was addressed to him by the provisions of the Act, the second test could be satisfied if he acted under an honest belief that he was carrying out the provisions of the Act; Public Prosecutor v.
Vattem Venkataramaya, 24 FJR 198 (AP HC): (1962) 5 Fac. LR 180: (1963) (1) Cri. LJ 283: AIR 1963 AP 106: 1962 II LLJ 21 (AP).