Radhakrishna Menon, J.

The question about the validity of the Notification, SRONo.47/82 under S.25 of The Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965, for short The Rent Control Act, granting exemption in respect of buildings owned by Wakfs registered under Wakfs Act, 1954 with the Kerala Wakf Board from all the provisions of the said Act, among others, arises for consideration in these Second Appeals. The validity of the Notification was upheld by our brother K.S. ParipoornanJ. as is seen from the judgment in O.P.4959/ 1984 and connected cases, relying on a decision of the Supreme Court in S. Kaddaswamy Chettiar v. State of Tamil Nadu, A.I.R. 1985 SC 257.

2. A Division Bench of this court doubted the correctness of the judgment in O.P.4959/84 and consequently referred the issue for the consideration of a Full Bench and that is how these second appeals have came up before us. For easy reference we shall now reproduce relevant portions of the reference order: -

"3. The two enactments have differing provisions on this crucial question. The condition contained in S.25 of the Kerala Act are more rigorous than those in the corresponding section of the Tamil Nadu enactment. Considerations of public interest of existence of other sufficient causes are indispensable requirements in the Kerala enactment. It was noticed that there were no such provisions in the corresponding Tamil Nadu Act.

4. It was, in the light of the above consideration, that this Court directed notice to the State Government and issued a direction to the Government Pleader to produce the relevant files leading to the decision for the notification.

5. We notice that there are very many matters wherein the identical question comes up for consideration. Having regard to the various aspects, we feel that an authoritative decision by a Full Bench of this Court would be desirable and necessary in the circumstances"

3. In these Second Appeals, by leave of the court the appellants who are the tenants of the buildings belonging to the wakfs registered with the Wakf Board, challenge the legality/validity of the Notification, giving total exemption to all buildings, owned by the wakfs from all the provisions of the Rent Control Act, issued in exercise of the powers conferred upon the Government under S.25 thereof.

4. S.25 reads:

"25. Exemptions:-(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act the Government may, in public interest or for any other sufficient cause, by notification in the Gazette, exempt any building or class of buildings from all or any of the provisions of this Act "

We shall at this stage itself reproduce the Notification also:

"S.R.O.No. 47/82:- In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-sec.(1) of S.25 of the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965 (2 of 1965), the Government of Kerala hereby exempt in public interest the buildings owned by the Wakfs registered under the Wakfs Act, 1954 (Central Act 29 of 1954) with the Kerala Wakf Board from all the provisions of the said Act".

5. The tenants challenge the Notification on the ground that the Notification deprives them of equal protection of the beneficial provision of the Rent Control Act which is available to the tenants of other buildings and as such the same offends against equal protection clause of Art.14. Dilating on this aspect Sri.T.R-Govinda Warrier, counsel for some of the appellants, argues that the Notification cannot be said to serve any public purpose because the beneficiaries of this Notification are in no way different from the landlords left out of this Notification. May be that the Wakfs registered under the Wakfs Act constitute a distinct and different class; but it cannot be said that this classification is based on an intelligible differentia. It is all the more so because, the classified group is inclusive of wakf-alal-awlad, which is only a family wakf, in no way different from a private landlord. Not only that, the classification has no nexus with the obje