Judgment

SIKRI, J.: These five appeals by special leave raise a common question of interpretation of R. 19 of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Rules, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules). It is common ground that nothing turns on any dissimilarity in the facts of each appeal. It will accordingly suffice if facts in Civil Appeal No. 93 of 1964 are set out.

2. The respondent, Lachmandas Hotechand Kripalani, is a displaced person from West Pakistan. He has three brothers. They owned 731 acres of agricultural land in District Nawabshah, Taluka Nawab Shah, Sind-now in Pakistan. The respondent submitted a claim under the Displaced Persons (Claims) Act, 1950 (XLIV of 1950)-hereinafter referred to as the Claims Act. The word claim was defined to mean "assertion of a right to the ownership of, or to any interest in (i) any immovable property in West Pakistan which is situate within an urban area, or (ii) such class of property in any part of West Pakistan, other than an urban area as may be notified by the Central Government in this behalf in the official gazette. It is common ground that agricultural land in Sind was so notified. The respondents claim was that