(1) THE first appellant is a company. Appellants 2 to 7 are the Directors of the company and the eighth appellant was the Administrative officer-cum- Factory Manager of the company. The company was taken over by the government under the Textile Undertaking Nationalisation Ordinance which was replaced by the Sick Textile Undertaking Nationalisation Act, 1974. The nationalisation took effect from 1/4/1974. The company challenged the proceedings for nationalisation by a writ petition filed in the High court. Pending disposal of the writ petition, the first appellant was appointed as a receiver to manage the affairs of the mills. The writ petition itself came to be dismissed on 27/7/1976 and a further special leave petition to this court was dismissed on 17/8/1976. The company also ceased to be the receiver about that time.

(2) THE establishment of the company attracted the provisions of the Employees Provident Funds Act, 1952 and the Additional Emoluments (Compulsory Deposit) Act, 1974. However, there appears to have been a default on the part of the company to make deposits relevant for the months of April to July 1976, a period of four months. In view of the above def