( 1 ) THE petitioner is a Chartered Accountant and is a partner of a firm carrying on business under the name of Ford Rhodes Parks and Company (hereinafter referred to as the Firm ). Prior to September, 1958, the Firm employed at Calcutta about 19 audit clerks in order to carry out audit of the account of companies. The Firm also employed about six persons as subordinate staff.

( 2 ) THE petitioner's case is that since the coming into operation of the Companies Act, 1956, which introduced stringent provision as to the manner in which a company should keep its books, the partners of the Firm found that they could not rely on the audit clerks even for the work they used to do formerly and the Firm accordingly was compelled to employ qualified Chartered Accountants for that purpose. On September 30, 1958, the Firm terminated the employment of eight audit clerks and again on November 28, 1958, the services of the remaining 11 audit clerks and one member of the subordinate staff were also terminated with one month's salary in lieu of notice. Therefore, since November 28, 1958, the Firm had no audit clerks in its pay roll.

( 3 ) ON or about January 8, 1959, the State G