N. VENKATACHALA J.

( 1 ) THESE petitions under Art. 226 of the Constitution, have been referred to a Division Bench.

( 2 ) IN these petitions, the petitioners have impugned the constitutional validity of several provisions of the Kar- nataka Land Reforms Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Principal act'), the Karnataka Land Rejforms (Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1973 (Kar. Act 1 of 1974) (hereinafter referred to as 'the amend ment Act') and o,f subsequent Acts by which the Principal Act was further amended.

( 3 ) AT the outset, it will be convenient to trace briefly the recent history of the legislation relating to agrarian reforms in our country and in Karnataka in particular. Our country is predominantly agricultural in spite of its industrial progress in recent years, for a large majority of its people depend upon agriculture for their livelihood. Immediately after the attainment of independence by our country, the State became aware of its primary duty to bring about agrarian reforms to improve the appalling condition of the tillers of soil and to increase the production of food and other produce from the land. Under our Constitution 'land' being a State

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