JUDGMENT

VENKATARAMIAH, J. :— In these petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution, the petitioners have questioned the constitutional validity of the Home Department Notification No. 352-LD-73/602 dated January 31, 1973 89 (hereinafter referred to as the Notification) as modified by the Home Department Notification No. 2294-LD-73/3474 dated September 24, 1973 and the Home Department Notification. No. 320-LD-74/3614, dated September 24, 1974 issued by the Chief Commissioner of the Union Territory of Chandigarh under Section 3 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) exempting every building constructed in the urban area of Chandigarh for a period of five years from the respective date applicable to it from the operation of the Act and issuing certain other directions in that behalf. Incidentally the petitioners have also questioned the validity of Section 3 of the Act.

2. For a proper appreciation of the rival contentions of the parties, it is necessary to refer briefly to the history of the relevant provisions of law. The area now known as the Union Territory of Chandigarh was a part of the State of Punjab as it existed prior to th