( 1 ) IN this group of nine Writ Petitions the petitioners are three Nagar Panchayats and six Gram Panchayats constituted under the Gujarat Panchayats Act 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Panchayats Act) The challenge in the petitions is directed toward two sets of notifi- cations; (1) six notification each dated May 6 1975 issued by the State Government in exercise of the powers conferred by sec. 16 of the Gujarat Industrial Development Act 1962 (hereinafter referred to as the G. I. D. C. Act) and published in the Gujarat Government Gazette dated May 7 1975 declaring inter alia that the provisions relating to notified areas as contained in Chapter XVI-A of the Gujarat Municipalities Act 1963 (hereinafter referred to as the Municipality Act) and other specified provisions of that Act shall extend to and be brought into force in six indu- strial areas notified by the State Government under the G. I. D. C. Act and directing that the provisions of the Panchayat Act which were in force in the said industrial areas shall cease to apply thereto; and (2) six notifications each dated May 4 1975 issued by the Development Commissioner Gujarat State in exercise of the delegated powers of the State Government under sub-sec. (2) of sec. 9 of the Panchayats Act and published in the Gujarat Government Gazette dated May 6 1975 excluding local areas which constituted the afore-mentioned six industrial areas from the respective limits of the petitioner-Panchayats. Since common questions of law arise in all these petitions; they were heard together and they are being disposed of by this common judgment.

( 2 ) IN order to appreciate the merit of the challenge it would be necessary at the very outset to refer to the relevant statutory provisions. Each of the petitioner-Panchayat is established and constituted under sec. 3 read with secs. 12 and 13 of the Panchayats Act. They have been desig- nated as Nagar Panchayats or Gram Panchayats as the case may be in accordance with the description of the local area under their jurisdiction as per provisions of sec. 9. They are the local authority for the purposes of the administration pertaining to local Government in the areas comp- rised within their jurisdiction. They inter alia levy and collect taxes and perform functions and duties assigned to them under the Panchayats Act. For the purposes of the present case it would be necessary to set out sub-sec. (2) of sec. 9 of the Panchayats Act which reads as under:9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) After consultation with the taluka panchayat the district panchayat and the nagar or gram panchayat concerned (if already constituted) the state Government may by like notification at any time- (a) include within or exclude from any nagar or gram any local area or otherwise alter the limits of any nagar or gram; or (b) declare that any local area shall cease to be a nagar or gram; or (c) having regard to clauses (a) and (b) of sub-sec. (1) declare the whole area comprised in a gram or the part thereof to be a nagar or two or more grams or the whole area comprised in a nagar to be a gram or split up the area comprised in the nagar into a nagar and a gram or into two or more grams; and thereupon the local area shall be so included or excluded or the limits of the nagar or gram so altered or the local area shall cease to be a nagar or gram or as the case may be the area declared to be a nagar or gram shall be a nagar or gram as the case may be.

( 3 ) THE Gujarat Legislature has enacted the G. I. D. C. Act and it came into force on August 9 1962 As the long title and preamble of the said Act lays down it is an Act to make special provision for securing the orderly establishment of industries in industrial areas and industrial estates in the State of Gujarat and to assist generally in the organisation thereof and for that purpose to establish an Industrial Development Corporation and for purposes connected with the mat