Judgment

SHAH, J. : In these three petitions the validity of S. 25 FFF (1) of the Industrial Disputes Act No. XIV of 1947 as amended by Act 43 of 1953 is impugned.

2. Petition No. 88 of 1957 is by a company manufacturing cotton textiles in the town of Ahmedabad. The machinery in the factory of the company was installed in the year 1893 and has not been replaced thereafter. The factory had, it is claimed by the petitioners, become by the passage of time, an uneconomic unit and was closed on that account on April 27, 1957. An attempt was made by the management to increase the number of spindles to make the unit economic, but without success. The company was incurring losses year after year and early in the year 1956, the Registrar of Companies, Bombay requested the Central Government to authorise him to wind up the company. This authority was not given and the factory continued to work till April 28, 1957, on which date it was closed after notice of closure given in March, 1957.

3. The petitioner in petition No. 106 of 1957 was running a coal mine which he had purchased in November, 1953. The petitioner says that he made large investments in the mine, but due to flooding by underground