Judgment

FAZAL ALI, J.:- These two appeals by certificate are directed against judgments dated 9-10-1969 and, 10-10-1969 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Letters Patent Appeals Numbers 558 of 1968 and 570 of 1969 by which the contentions raised bad the appellants in the two appeals were rejected. After the matter came up in this Court the two appeals were consolidated as they arose out of almost the same subject-matter and involved identical points. The facts which have given rise to these appeals lie within a very narrow compass and may be briefly summarised thus.

2. The appellants were refugees from Pakistan and Sant Singh Nalwa was allotted 63 standard acres and 8 1/2 units in village Marghain and another area of 19 standard acres and 51/2 units in Garden Colony in Jundla which were entered as sailab land in the revenue records. The other appellant. Kartar Kaur, was allotted 96 acres, 3 bighas and 13 biswas in the same district. These lands were given to the appellants as they were displaced persons. After the appellants had become owners of the lands, the State of Punjab passed the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953, (hereinafter referred to as the Act) which later applied to Haryana also, under which every land owner whether a displaced person, allottee or otherwise could not retain any area of land which fell beyond the extent prescribed by sub-section (3) of Section 2 of the Act.

3. After the coming into force of the Act the revenue authorities proceeded to determine the permissible area of the land of both the appellants so that the area which was found to be in excess may be taken over by the State after paying the compensation as provided in the Act and the Rules made thereunder, viz., The Punjab Security of Land Tenures Rules, 1953 (hereinafter called the Rules). In order to determine the permissible area the Act contains certain provisions by which the entire area held by a landowner has to be converted into standard acres on the basis of a formula contained in sub-section (5) of Section 2 of the Act which defines standard acre thus :

"Standard acre means a measure of area convertible into ordinary acres of any class of land according to the prescribed scale with reference to the quantity of yield and quality of soil."

Similarly, the relevant portion of sub-sec. (5-a) which defines Surplus Area may be extracted thus :

"Surplus Area means the area other than the reserved area, and, where no area has been reserved, the area in excess of the permissible area selected (under Section 5-B or the area which is deemed to be surplus area under sub-section (1) of Section 5-C) fund includes the area in excess of the permissible area selected under Section 19-B) but it will not include a tenants permissible area."

4. So far as the appellant, Sant Singh Nalwa, was concerned the revenue authorities held that he was entitled to retain 50 (fifty) standard acres being the permissible area and the balance of 13 standard acres and odd units was declared as surplus. Similarly, in the case of the other appellant, Kartar Kaur she was allowed to retain 50 standard acres and about 15 standard acres of land was taken over being surplus. In the instant appeals, there is no dispute that the formula by which the extent of the land in possession of the appellants had been converted into standard acres was not in accordance with the provisions of the Act. The only point that was canvassed before the revenue authorities as also in the High Court centered round the question of the nature of the land and the valuation thereof for the purpose of assessing compensation. The appellants case was that as the lands which had been declared surplus or for that matter the entire lands allotted to them as displaced persons fell in a portion of District Karnal which was sailab and Adna sailab and therefore according to the classification made under the Rules they did not carry any valuation.

5. Sant Singh Nalwa challenged before the Collector the valid