JUDGMENT

SHARMA, J. :- The civil appeals Nos. 1314-1318 of 1979 by certificate are directed against the decision of the Judicial Commissioner of Goa, Daman and Diu, declaring the Goa, Daman and Diu Agricultural Tenancy (5th Amendment) Act, 1976, as unconstitutional. The respondents are landlords in Goa. The lands were in possession of the tenants who were cultivating the same and paying rent to the respondents. The respondents were divested of their title in the lands by the provisions of the impugned Act which came in force in 1976 vesting the same in the tenants. The respondents filed five writ applications in the court of the Judicial Commissioner challenging the validity of the Amendment Act. The writ petitions were allowed by the impugned judgment. It has been held that the Act violates Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution and the protection of Article 31 A is not available as the scheme of the Act does not constitute agrarian reform:

2. It has been contended on behalf of the respondent-writ petitioners that the landlords in Goa are generally small land-holders and their condition is not better than that of the tenants and in that view the Act divesting the landlords of their