V. R. SHAH, J. :- This appeal under clause 15 of the Letters Patent arises out of the decision of this Court (Divan, J.) in First Appeal No. 163 of 1964 which was filed against the decision of Mr. R. C. Shelat, Principal Judge, City Civil Court (as he then was), in City Civil Suit No. 2239 of 1961. The facts giving rise to this appeal are as under:

The original plaintiff who is the appellant before us as well as in the First Appeal before Divan, J., brought this suit against the Union of India and the State of Gujarat, the two respondents before us, on August 17, 1961 for a declaration that he is a citizen of India and that he has not lost or abandoned his Indian citizenship and for a permanent injunction restraining the defendants or their servants from prosecuting and/or deporting him from India. The plaintiff's father was born at the village of Tanda in Hazara District. This District of Hazara was a part of British India upto the coming into operation of the Independence Act of 1947. That Independence Act created two sovereign territories out of the territory of British India; namely the dominion of India and the dominion of Pakistan and this District of Hazara has, sinc