JUDGMENT - V.V. VAZE, J.:---The Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 ('the Act') is a welfare legislation designed to provide for certain benefits to employees in case of sickness, maternity and employment injury. Sub-section (3) of section 1 of the Act which deals with the commencement and territorial application provisions enables the Central Government by a notification in the Official Gazette to bring the Act into force for different States or for different parts thereof. The Act applied in the first instance to all factories but sub-section (5) of section 1 enables the State and Central Government to extend the provision of the Act to any other establishment or class of establishments by notification in the Official Gazette. 2. In exercise of powers conferred by sub-section (5) of section 1 of the Act the Government of Maharashtra issued a notification on 18-9-1978 extending with effect from 12-11-1978 all the provisions of the Act to classes of establishments given in the Schedule. Item 3 of para 3 of the schedule speaks of "shops" as a class of establishment to which the Act shall apply. 3. M/s. Dattaram Advertising Private Limited ('the Company') of Ready money Mansion, Veer Nariman Road, Bombay purport to act as 'advertising consultants'. They have been registered under the Bombay Shops and Establishment Act, 1948 and employ more than 20 workers. The Regional Director of Maharashtra Employees State Insurance Corporation ('Corporation') held that the company is a shop within the meaning of notification dated 18-9-1978 issued by the Government of Maharashtra and as such the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 applies to it. On this basis the Corporation claimed the employer's special contribution and employees contribution together with interest as envisaged by the Act. An application under section 75 of the Act before the Employees State Insurance Court at Bombay having been dismissed the Company files the present appeal. 4. The decision of this appeal veers round a question whether the office premises of an advertising concern can be called a shop. The concept of advertising is as old as the hills and the dales. With a greater fashion consciousness that has swept the affluent world, a philosophy has developed even amongst the not-so-rich that one had as good be out of the world as out of the fashion. The concept of advertising is as old as the hills and the dales. With a greater fashion consciousness that has swept the affluent world, a philosophy has developed even amongst the not-so-rich that one had as good be out of the world as out of the fashion. The keeping with the Joneses fever has gripped a very large segment of the populace and the Ad people tell the world what the Joneses do. It is just flattering the vast body of consumers with delicacy. 5. An advertising consultancy or agency has various departments; a small unit of creative copy writers and visualizers form the core. They and the art directors plan the strategy for the client and after visuals are approved by him the execution work is taken over by the team of artists and models. The media managers take care of the planning of a successful live wire sales promotion strategy. Needless to say advertising agency like any other business does have an administrative department to look after day-to-day work. 6. The Canons of statutory construction are sufficiently accordion like to permit a restrictive or expansive interpretation depending upon the purpose of the statute. The present statute does not impinge upon the fundamental rights of any person and all that it does is to impose on the employer and employee a compulsory contract of insurance. Even if this Act was not on the statute book nothing prevented an employer from taking out a policy of group insurance for the benefit of his workers after arriving at an arrangement with their Union. But the legislature in its wisdom thought that it should interfere and impose an obligation rather than leaving it to the will of the employer to have an insurance cover for the workers. The original bills as drafted was entitled "the Workmen's State Insurance Bill" and the Central Labour Minister said it was "beginning of social security". After the bill was referred to the Select Committee the initial concept of the draft that it was an insurance bill for the workmen underwent a change. The original word "workmen" occurring in the draft bill was substituted by the term "employee" and the Select Committee observed that they were of the opinion that the benefits provided by the Act should not be confined to workmen only but should be extended to other employees in the factories. The original word "workmen" occurring in the draft bill was substituted by the term "employee" and the Select Committee observed that they were of the opinion that the benefits provided by the Act should not be confined to workmen only but should be extended to other employees in the factories. With that end in view, the Select Committee incorporated Clause (5) of section 1 so as to enable the appropriate governments to extend the Act to other establishments. That is how the bill which was introduced as Workmen's State Insurance Bill 1946 was changed into the Employees' State Insurance Bill. 7. The Act was amended in 1951 and the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Amending Act 53 of 1951 after making reference to the fact that the Act permits implementation of the scheme by stages, proceeds to say that the scheme which was introduced in the first instance in Delhi and Kanpur had met with certain practical difficulties. The rise in the costs of the products and diminition of the competitive spirit of the industries were the main-causes that led to the failure of the scheme. The Central Government thought that an equitable distribution of the employer's contribution will made for a more viable proposition. In another field the Health Insurance Scheme for Central Government employees was introduced in India which could justifiably take pride that it was the first country in South East Asia to launch such a scheme. The success of the C.C.H.S. prompted the Central Government to make the employees State Insurance Scheme more wide-based. 8. As is usual with the introduction of such welfare measures, the Estimates Committee of the Parliament recommended that a small committee should go into the important recommendations made by them regarding working of the scheme. The Review Committee noticed that though the Act has the potential for covering all wage-earners in every kind of occupation, introducing the great mass of agricultural labour, it was obvious that full realization of this potential though recognised as the ultimate goal of the scheme, was not practicable in the foreseeable future. The Committee on perspective planning pinpointed the difficulties in the mechanics of the scheme inasmuch as the Employees State Insurance's hospitals and dispensaries do not have an All India Cadre and have to depend upon the State medical service personnel for manning their posts. The Committee on perspective planning pinpointed the difficulties in the mechanics of the scheme inasmuch as the Employees State Insurance's hospitals and dispensaries do not have an All India Cadre and have to depend upon the State medical service personnel for manning their posts. As the emoluments and the working conditions under the Employee's State Insurance Scheme were not attractive enough, very few State Government doctors were willing to come over on deputation. The Committee recommended that an All India Service on the lines of Central Health Service if constituted would provide enough promotional opportunities for the members. 9. The report of the Committees, statement of objects and reasons and the stages through which the bill proceeded till it became an Act, are legitimate aids to the construction of a statue. The historical perspective narrated above shows that the Parliament intended to afford medical services, to the employees but were beset right from the beginning with the problem of providing an adequate infrastructure and facilities to cater to the needs of the employees. They realised that the employees paying contribution towards the fund would justifiably expect services and unless an infrastructure is planned to gear to the needs of all the employees, the scheme would be a non-starter. Though a beginning was made in Delhi and Kanpur the Administrators found it difficult to extend the scheme to places like Bombay where enough space to house dispensaries was not forthcoming and tie-up arrangements had to be entered into with private hospitals and clinics. 10. Such being the history of the stage-by-stage extension of the scheme, it would appear that the intention of the legislature was to extend the scheme, only to such class of employees as could be serviced by the existing infrastructure facilities. As observed by the Select Committee the scheme was a laudable one and could have covered every agricultural labourer in the country. But it was not visibly a very practical proposition and the intention was to extend the scheme by stages to various establishments. As observed by the Select Committee the scheme was a laudable one and could have covered every agricultural labourer in the country. But it was not visibly a very practical proposition and the intention was to extend the scheme by stages to various establishments. If such a restrictive construction is put upon the word 'shop' one would come to the conclusion that the word was used in the sense in which it is used in common parlance that is to say a place where goods are sold and/or services rendered-services being the ordinary understood services like repairs of and servicing of an automobiles, barber's shop, dry cleaners and launderers etc. which come before the mind's eye when the picture of a community shop centre is visualised. 11. Counsel for respondent relied on (George Mathew v. Employees' State Insurance Corporation)1, 1978 Factories Journal 316, for the proposition that the establishment of the distributors of cinematographic films are "establishments" though no sale or purchase of films may take place in them and that the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 is applicable to such establishments. One may have no quarrel with the proposition in this case because in the case of a barber's shop or that of a lending library whether of books or videocassettes, no goods are sold or purchased but are only hired just in the same way as a bicycle shop may allow the use of bicycle for rental on an hour basis. Cycle hiring shops or those that lend books or video cassettes have become an integral part of the daily community life and an ordinary citizen has an access to such shops and makes use of them in a routine manner. Not so with a firm of advertising consultants like the appellants in the present case. Not so with the atelier of an artist where the paints in oil which paintings may ultimately be sold. Not so with the study of a novelist or a poet where he writes his novel or composes his poem though ultimately it would be an commercial proposition for him to sell the intellectual property so created. Not so with the atelier of an artist where the paints in oil which paintings may ultimately be sold. Not so with the study of a novelist or a poet where he writes his novel or composes his poem though ultimately it would be an commercial proposition for him to sell the intellectual property so created. A visual or a catchy tune in an advertising agency would be a type of intellectual property for which copy right could be claimed in a like manner but it would be doing violence to the language to call the sites of such intellectual activity "a shop" because the general sense of the community would not accept such a concept. 12. As a result, the appeal succeeds with costs and setting aside the order of the Employees' State Insurance Court, Bombay it is declared that the applicants' establishment is not a shop within the meaning of the notification dated 18-9-1978 issued by the Government of Maharashtra under sub-section (5) of section 1 of the Act. However, as appellants have furnished a bank guarantee for the sum of Rs. 80,000/- towards the probable dues claimed by the respondent-Corporation, the same should be kept valid and alive till 1st July, 1986. Appeal allowed. -----