JUDGMENT

 Leave granted.

Since a common point both of fact and law is involved in these appeals, they are all disposed of by this common order.

2. Unfortunately, there is no appearance on behalf of the respondents. We have, therefore, gone through the record of the case with the assistance of the learned counsel for the appellants. The undisputed facts which emerge are as follows :

In all these cases, the appellant-landlords had got their building plans sanctioned in 1970-71 according to R. 25 of the Capital of Punjab (Development and Regulation) Building Rules, 1952 (Rules), as it stood then. The height of the building was not to exceed 57.7 feet. The plans sanctioned were for buildings with a ground and three floors and a mezzanine floor above the ground floor which was to cover only a part of the total floor space available. It appears that during the construction of the buildings in question, R. 25 of the Rules was amended on 21st December, 1970 permitting the height of the floor to be reduced at 9 feet. Taking advantage of this amendment, the appellants extended the floor area of the mezzanine floor to the entire floor space available, thus converting the mezzanine floor into ano