The Legislature has the power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List II of the 7th Schedule of the Constitution, and this power is subject to the provisions of the Constitution. The State Legislatures have exclusive power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List II, and this power is as large and plenary as that of Parliament itself. The power of the Legislature to make laws includes the subsidiary or auxiliary power to validate laws which have been found to be invalid.

( 1 ) THESE various petitions, either for writ of mandamus or for nformation in the nature of quo warranto, filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India raise certain common questions, legal and constitutional in nature. W. P. Nos. 1393, 1394) 1359) 1387 and 1360 of 1964 are mainly concerned with the validity and constitutionality of some of the provisions of Act XIII of 1964 which has retrospectively amended the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Samit and Zilla Parishads act (XXXV of 1959) and validated the action taken by the Government without having initial jurisdiction in that behalf. The other Writ Petitions, 1604, 1605,. 1453 and 1454 of 1964, raising as they do incidentally the question of validity of certain provisions of the Amending Act, are mainly concerned with the question whether the rules made in the year 1964 under section 69 of the Andhra Pradesh panchayat Samithis and Zilla Parishads Act (XXXV of 1959) (hereinafter referred to as the Act) became effective on and July, 1964, even before they were laid before the Legislature as contemplated by the Statute. They also question the legality of the elections held thereunder before that date. Similar is the purpose of W. P. No. 216 of 1964 which as in W. P. No. 1220 of 1964 calls in question the validity of the Ordinance containing, inter alia, the rules of conduct of elections promulgated by the Governor. The circumstances in which the amendment was effected both in the Act and the rules and the Ordinance was promulgated may be shortly stated. The government in purported exercise of their power under clause (b) of section 2 of the Act, issued a notificationg. O. Ms. 532, dated I5th May of 1964. redelimiting all the blocks in the State of Andhra Pradesh. And further in purported exercise of their power conferred under section 3 (3) and sub-section (12) of section 14 of the Act, by notification G. O. Ms. 598, dated 2nd June, 1964, reconstituted Panchayat Samithis specified in the schedule for the blocks as redelimited by the notification G. O. Ms. 532, dated 15th May, 1964 as from 1st July, 1964. As a result of this redelimitation, the existing number of blocks was reduced from 448 to 321 and the number o panchayat Samithis was accordingly shortened. Thus 127 Samithis stood abolished without any specific notification of abolition and their territories were annexed to tha newly constituted Samithis. The old Samithis constituted as they were, were bodies corporate having perpetual succession and common seal with powers to acquire, hold and dispose of property and to enter into contracts and to sue and be sued in their corporate name. The abolition of such Samithis unwarranted as it was in the absence of any specific provision, gave occasion for the said writ proceedings in this court. It was submitted that the power of abolition of the statutorily constituted panchayat Samithis being a legislative power must be conferred specifically and cannot, in the absence of such conferment, be assumed as incidental or supplemental or even consequential power of redelimitation. Further section 2 (b) which was invoked by the Government to exercise the power of redelimitation did not in fact confer any such power by any specific provision in the Statute on the Government. Besides if it was the intention of the Legislature to grant the power to abolish the samithis a specific provision would have been made as it is generally done in statutes of this kind. As there was no statutory power conferred on the Government, it was submitted that the abolition was in excess of their power. It was on that basis that Writ Petitions Nos. 976 and 1067 of 1964, etc. challenging the validity of g. O. Ms. No. 532 and the elections held thereafter were originally filed in this Court.

( 2 ) THESE petitions were disposed of by a common judgment on 7th July, 1964 (see V. Ramchandra Reddy and another v. The State of Andhra Pradesh, (1965) 1 An. W. R. 317.) accepting the contention of the p