Judgment

GROVER, J. :- In these appeals by certificate from a judgment of the Punjab & Haryana High Court the main question requiring determination relates to the scope, ambit and true interpretation of S. 7 read with S. 11 of the East Punjab Utilization of Land Act, 1949, hereinafter called the Act .

2. We need state the facts only in C. A. 825/72 (Dasaudha Singh & others v. State of Haryana). The Collector Karnal leased out an area of 1154 Acres in villages Pehowa and Murtzapur jointly to Karnal Co-operative Society Ltd. Pehowa and the Lyalpur Co-op. Joint Farming Society, Murtapur under S. 5 of the Act. Owing to some dispute which arose subsequent to the lease between the two societies the Registrar gave an award on the matter having been referred to him for arbitration. According to that award the entire land in village Murtzapur and 172 Acres of land in village Pehowa were given to the Lyalpur Society and the remaining 357 Acres of land in village Pehowa to the Karnal Society. The lease was originally for a certain number of years but it was extended for a period of twenty years which is the maximum period for which a lease could be granted under the Act. By a notice dated May