Judgment

K. JAYACHANDRA REDDY, J.:- In all these appeals the question that arises for consideration is whether the tenants also are entitled to be heard by the concerned authority while deciding a dispute of title between the persons claiming to be the owners and the Gram Panchayat in respect of Shamlat Deh under S. 42 of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 (Act for short). According to the averments, the appellants claim to have been cultivating the land as lessees which land has been described in the revenue records as Shamlat Deh owned by the Gram Panchayat. Thus they claim to be tenants of the Gram Panchayat in respect of the land in dispute. Before the High Court they challenged the order of Director of Consolidation of Holdings (Director for short) passed under S. 42 of the Act. The said order was passed by the Director in a petition filed by persons claiming to have shares in the Shamlat Deh which shares were entered in the cultivation column as maqbuza malkan. Their contention before the Director was that the Consolidation authorities were not competent to change the title of the "right-holders" and that whatever was entered in