Judgment

A. ALAGIRISWAMI, J.:- These appeals raise the question of the validity of certain rules made under the Rajasthan Colonisation Act. 1954. The facts necessary for the decision of this case are as follows:

2. Jaila Singh, the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 1704 of 1974, was allotted 50 bighas of uncommand land, in the years 1956-57 and 1957-58 in the Ganganagar District of the Rajasthan State. The area in which the land is situated was declared, a Colony Area of the Rajasthan Canal project under the Act in 1960. In 1967 the Rajasthan Colonisation (Rajasthan Canal Project Government Land Allotment and Sale) Rules, 1967 were promulgated and applications were invited for allotment of land under those rules. Jaila Singh s application for allotment was disposed of on 27- l2-1969 by allotting 14 bighas and 14 biswas of land on permanent basis. These 1967 Rules were the subject matter of certain writ petitions before the Rajasthan High Court which ended with the decision of that Court in State v. Ramdhan (AIR 1973 Raj 71) striking down certain of those Rules.Thereafter two sets of Rules called respectively Rajasthan Colonisation (Rajasthan Canal Project Pre-1955 Temporary Tenants "Government Land Allotment) Conditions. 1971 and the Rajasthan Colonisation (Allotment of Government Land to Post-1955 . Temporary Cultivation Lease Holders and other Landless Persons in the Rajasthan Canal Project Area) Rules, 1971 were promulgated. Applications were again invited for allotment of land, under the Post-1955 Rules and Jaila Singh was allotted another 10 bighas of land. The rest of the land originally allotted to him reverted to the State. He filed a writ petition before the Rajasthan High Court challenging the Post-1955 Rules as violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. He prayed that the Rajasthan Colonisation Act, 1954 may be declared to be illegal or in the alternative the Post-1955 Rules may be declared to be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution and for an appropriate order in respect of the lands allotted , to him.

3. Sahi Ram, the husband of the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 1705 of 1974. had been allotted 24 1/2 bighas of land for temporary cultivation in Rajasthan Canal Area in Ganganagar District. He had also been allotted 13 1/2 bighas of command land in the year 1952 on a permanent basis and 6 bighas and 12 biswas of command land and 4 bighas and 11 biswas of uncommand land for permanent cultivation. These lands were included in the Colony Area of the Rajasthan Canal Project in 1960. After the post-1955 Rules came into force the 24 1/2 bighas land was ordered to be resumed on the ground that Sahi Ram was not a landless person. In the writ petition filed by the appellant the contentions and prayers were the same as in Jaila Singh s case. We shall deal with them at the appropriate places in so far as they relate to matters raised in the appeal.

4. In both the writ petitions the contention on behalf of the State of Rajasthan was that owing to the insertion of Section 15A in the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955 Khatedari rights could not accrue to the tenants under Section .15 (1) of the said Act and the possession of such tenants was given protection who were holding since 15-10-55 and thereafter upto the commencement of the Pre-1955 Conditions by making permanent allotment under the Pre-1955 Conditions . The various impugned rules were contended not to be discriminatory.

5. Justice Gupta of the Rajasthan High Court who heard the two writ petitions filed by Jaila Singh and Dhapi Bai, in a batch of 340 writ petitions, upheld the validity of the Pre-l955 Conditions as well as the Post l955 Rules. He took the view that the question of discrimination can arise only in respect of persons, who are similarly situated, that; the pre-1955 tenants cannot be said to stand on the same footing as the post-1955 tenants inasmuch as the two classes of tenants came into temporary cultivation at different periods of time and cannot be s