Judgement

HIDAYATULLAH, J. : This judgment will dispose of Writ Petitions Nos. 148, 149, 233 and 238 of 1962 and 216 of 1963. They raise a common question about the validity of the Daman (Abolition of Proprietorship of Villages) Regulation, 1962, (No. VII of 1962). We shall refer to this Regulation as "the Regulation" in this judgment.

2. By the Constitution (Twelfth Amendment) Act, 1962, the First Schedule to the Constitution was amended by including under the heading "The Union Territories after Entry 7, a new Entry which read:

"8. Goa, Daman and Diu.- The territories which immediately before the twentieth day of December 1961, were comprised in Goa, Daman and Diu".

Similarly, in Art. 240 which gives power to the President to make regulations for Union territories the words "Goa, Daman and Diu" were inserted. This followed the annexation of the territories belonging to India which had passed into Portuguese hands. On March 5, 1962 the President promulgated the Goa, Daman and Diu (Administration) Ordinance, 1962 to operate from the appointed day, namely, December 20, 1961 providing, among other things, for the continuance of all laws in force immediately before the appointed day in Go