(1.) The Empress Mills, Nagpur---A textile undertaking has been nationalised by the Central India Spinning, Weaving and Manufacturing Company Limited, the Empress Mills, Nagpur (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertaking) Act, 1986, (the Act). Constitutional validity of sections 9(2), 10(2), 12(1) and 26 of the Act is questioned in this petition by a representative union of the workers on the ground that they violates Articles 14, 19(1)(c) and 21 of the Constitution.
(2.) This century old undertaking was the first venture of the famous industrialist Shri Jamsethji Tata. It consists of 5 units and a paper division. The backdrop against which the undertaking is nationalised is best laid out in the Statement of Objects and Reasons accompanying the Bill. We reproduce the same :
(3.) The scheme of the Act :