( 1 ) THESE are appeals under Sec. 96, C. P. C. , at the instance of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (original defendant) who challenges the common judgment and decrees passed by the trial Court in a group of suits filed by various plaintiffs.

( 2 ) SINCE all the suits were based on almost identical pleadings and common issues of fact and law arose in those suits, the trial Court consolidated those suits, treated Civil Suit No. 1066 of 1986 as the main matter, recorded the evidence in the said matter, and decided all the suits in favour of the respective plaintiffs by the common judgment. It is this common judgment which is the subject-matter of the present appeals. As aforesaid, since common issues of fact and law arise in these appeals, the same can be disposed of by a common judgment.

( 3 ) THERE is no serious factual controversy involved in these matters, as also no serious controversy as to the findings of fact that may have been recorded by the trial Court in the impugned judgment and decree.

( 4 ) HOWEVER, only for the sake of clarity and appreciation of the legal controversy, a certain background of historical facts as they appear in the impugned judgment