JUDGMENT

M. P. THAKKAR, J.

( 1 ) A challenge to the validity of provision*1 in so far as it prohibits the transfer of any immovable property situated in the scheduled areas of Andhra Pradesh by a non-tribal in favour of another non-tribal having been repelled by the High Court upon testing on the touchstone of constitutionality, the present appeals*2 have been preferred by some of the unsuccessful Original Writ Petitioners. Some others have intervened upon their application for leave to intervene having been granted by this court.

( 2 ) THE appellants and the interveners have by and large reiterated the same contentions before this Court in support of their plea that the impugned provision is unconstitutional as being violative of Art. 19 (1) (f) of the Constitution of India as it obtained at the material time till its repeal by the 44th Amendment in 1979 with effect from 20/06/1979.

( 3 ) A short history of the legislation may be briefly traced to the extent considered necessary. In the Andhra Area there existed before the inauguration of the Constitution, certain laws including the Agency Tracts Interest and Land Transfer Act, 1917 which inter alia prohibited transfer of land in th