D.K.Mahajan, J.

1. The Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, has referred the following question of law for our opinion :

" Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, and on the interpretation of Section 2(18)(b)(ii), the Appellate Tribunal was justified in holding that the assessee is a company in which the public are substantially interested ? "

2. It is common ground that the Hindustan Milk Food Manufacturers Ltd., Nabha, was registered as a private company in October, 1958. In the year 1960, by virtue of Section 43A of the Companies Act, 1956 , the company became a public limited company, and on 30th March, 1968, the company deleted Article 3 from its articles of association,

3. The effect of this deletion was that the benefit of the first proviso to Sub-section (1) to Section 43 of the Companies Act, 1956 , was given up. The assessment year in question is 1968-69, The accounting year commenced on April 1, 1967, and ended on March 31, 3968. The assesses filed its return showing an income of Rs. 1,07,50,950 and claimed that it was a company in which the public were substantially interested within the meaning of Section 2(18) of the Income-tax