Section 2(17) in The Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948
(17)“principal employer” means(i)in a factory, the owner or occupier of the factory and includes the managing agent of such owner or occupier, the legal representative of a deceased owner or occupier, and where a person has been named as the manager of the factory under the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948), the person so named;(ii)in any establishment under the control of any department of any Government in India, the authority appointed by such Government in this behalf or where no authority is so appointed, the head of the Department;(iii)in any other establishment, any person responsible for the supervision and control of the establishment;
