Judgment

BHARUCHA, J.:- Leave granted in the Special Leave Petitions.

2. These are appeals by special leave filed by the Employees State Insurance Corporation against the judgments and orders of the High Courts of Bombay, Madras and Kerala holding that advertising agencies are not shops for the purposes of the application thereto of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 (hereinafter referred to as "the said Act"). All the appeals can, therefore, be disposed of by a common judgment.

3. It is convenient to take note in the judgment, as illustrative, of the facts of the case arising in Bombay.

4. A notification was issued under S. 1(5) of the said Act by the Government of Maharashtra. S. 1(5) entitles the appropriate Government, (in these appeals, admittedly, the Governments of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala) to extend the provisions of the said Act, in consultation with the appellants (the Employees State Insurance Corporation) and with the approval of the Central Government, after giving 6 months notice of its intention so to do by a notification in the Official Gazette, to any establishment or classes of establishments, industrial, commercial, agricultural or otherwise. By the sa