Judgment

K. JAGANNATHA SHETTY, J.:- These appeals by special leave are directed against the judgment of the Karnataka High Court rejecting the claim of the appellant Corporation for covering the factories of the respondents under the provisions of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 (The Act).

2. Section 1(4) excludes "seasonal factory" from the scope of the Act. The "seasonal factory" is defined under S. 2(12) of the Act ,.,which is extracted hereunder:

"Seasonal factory means a factory which is exclusively engaged in one or more of the following manufacturing processes, namely, cotton ginning, cotton or jute pressing, decortication of groundnuts, the manufacture of coffee, indigo, lac, rubber, sugar (including gur) or tea or any manufacturing process which is incidental to or connected with any of the aforesaid processes."

3. The factories of the respondents were excluded from the operation of the Act since they were declared to be the seasonal factories within the meaning of the above stated definition. There is no dispute on this aspect.

4. By Amending Act 44 of 1966 which came into force with effect from 28th January 1968, the definition of "seasonal factory" has been amended.