Judgment

SEN, J. :- These appeals on certificate directed against the judgment and order of the Bombay High Court dated June 13, 1983 raise a question of far-reaching public importance. By the judgment under appeal, a Division Bench of the High Court on a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution filed by Messrs Shree Sitaram Mills Limited, Bombay (for short the petitioners) while upholding the constitutional validity of the Textile Undertakings (Taking Over of Management) Act, 1983 insofar as it provides by S. 3(1) of the Act for the taking over by the Central Government of the management in the public interest of Messrs Shree Sitaram Mills a textile undertaking owned by it and specified in the First Schedule to the Act, held that the surplus land appurtenant to the Mill was not an asset in relation to the textile undertaking within the meaning of sub-s. (2) of S. 3 of the Act, on the ground that the business of real estate carried on by the Company was separate and distinct from the textile business, and accordingly directed the Central Government to restore possession of the said land to the Company. The issue involved must necessarily turn on the meaning of the words assets in