Judgment

VAIDIALINGAM, J.: - The common question that arises for consideration in all these writ petitions filed under Art. 32 and the civil appeals, on certificates granted by the High Court, is whether a tenant, in order to claim the right of purchase as against the landowner, under Section 18 (1) of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 (Act X of 1953) (hereinafter referred to as the Act), should have been in continuous occupation of the land comprised in his tenancy for a minimum period of six years, on the date when the Act came into force (April 15, 1953), or on the date when he files the application for purchase to the concerned authority under the Act. A subsidiary point also arises for consideration viz, whether the person who claims the right to purchase, should have been a tenant on the date when the Act came into force.

2. The circumstances under which these writ petitions and appeals arose, may be briefly stated.

3. We shall first take up for consideration Civil Appeal No. 2356 of 1966.

4. Respondents 2 and 3, who are the tenants under the appellant landowner, in this appeal, filed on January 10, 1961 before the Assistant Collector, I Grade, Fazilka, an application