( 1 ) AS questions referred to this court in all these references are common, at the request of the learned advocates, the references are heard together and are disposed of by this common judgment.

( 2 ) AT the instance of the revenue, the following two questions of law have been referred to this court by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Ahmedabad Bench c, under the provisions of sec. 256 (1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Act ). "1. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in law in coming to the conclusion that the status of the assessee company should be treated as public limited company? 2. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in law in coming to the conclusion that notwithstanding the provisions of sec. 2 (18) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the status of the assessee company should be taken as a public limited company?"

( 3 ) THE short question which has arisen in all these references is whether the assessee company should be treated as a public limited company or in other words a "company in which the public are substantially interested" for the As