JUDGMENT :-

Heard learned counsel for the parties.

The short question involved in these cases is whether the appellant Turf Clubs are covered by the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 (for short the ESI Act).

Under Section 1 sub-section (5) of the ESI Act all establishments are not automatically covered by the said Act but only such establishments as are mentioned in the notification issued by the appropriate Government under Section 1(5). This provision is not like sub-section (4) of Section 1 by which all factories are automatically covered by the ESI Act. The notifications issued under Section 1(5) in these cases use the word shop and it has been held by the impugned judgments in these cases that the turf clubs are shops. Reliance in this behalf has been placed on the judgment of this Court in the case of Employees State Insurance Corpn. Vs. Hyderabad Race Club 2004 (6) SCC, 191.

2. With great respect to the aforesaid decision in the case of Hyderabad Race Club (supra), we think that the said decision requires reconsideration. In common parlance a club is not a shop.

3. The word shop has not been defined either in the ESI Act nor in the notification issued by the appropriate gov