1. This is a group of nine writ petitions challenging the vires of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 (Act I of 1964) as amended by the Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1969 (Act 35 of 1969) with the object of preventing the State from acquiring lands in the possession of the petitioners in excess of the ceilings imposed thereunder.

The details of the holdings of the petitioners are briefly as follows: WRIT PETITION No. 117/1970

2. Petitioner company owns a block of land Ac. 2313-00 in extent out of which Ac. 1818-00 were planted with rubber trees, Ac. 30-00 under cocoanut, Ac. 5-50 with arecanut, Ac. 260-00 under coconut, Ac. 12-50 under paddy, Ac- 25-00 under nutmeg and fruit trees, the rest being jungle and waste.

WRIT PETITION NO. 132/ 70

3. Petitioner, a citizen, owns land in Kasargod taluk consisting of Ac. 21-00 under coconut, Ac. 6-00 paddy land and Ac, 34-00 dry land. He also leased out Ac. 91-00 of land to tenants. He owns jointly with his brother an arecanut garden of Ac. 5-50, coconut plantation of Ac. 49-00 and cashew plantation of Ac. 25-00.

WRIT PETITION No. 133/1970

4. Petitioner owned lands in Kasargod taluk Ac. 9-94 in extent which has been usufructuarily mortgaged for a long time.

WRIT PETITION No. 134/1970

5. Petitioner is a ryotwari pattadar holding pepper garden Ac. 30-00, arecanut Ac. 45-00, cashew plantation Ac. 25-00, coconut garden Ac. 44-00 and paddy lands of Ac. 2-00 all under personal cultivation. He has also leased out Ac. 673-00 of dry land to tenants. Besides the above he cultivates as lessee Ac. 56-00 of pepper garden and owns with his brother Ac. 22-00 of pepper garden and arecanut garden etc. He also owns with other members of his family Ac 19-00 of land set apart and used as dairy farm.

WRIT PETITION No. 137/1970

6. Petitioner is a matadhipati in Kasargod taluk: extent of lands: Ac. 348-00 of paddy, Ac. 114-00 leased out to tenants and Ac. 219-00 of dry land bearing cashew etc. are also leased out.

WRIT PETITION No: 149/1970

7. The two petitioners owned Ac. 95-00 of land In District of Trichur. They also owned Ac.52-00 in village Azhikkode and Ac. 154-00 in village Kadappuram and all the lands are used for coconut plantation. It is stated in Para.2 of the petition that the petitioners have employed a large number of kudikidappukaran either as watchmen or workers to look after the lands.

WRIT PETITION No. 167/1970

8. Petitioner is a Private Limited Company and petitioner No. 2 is a director and shareholder. Petitioner owns rubber plantations of Ac. 22-00, cashew Ac. 65-00, pepper Ac.16-00, arecanut Ac. 58-00, coconut Ac. 13-00, paddy land Ac. 5-50, cardamom Ac. 305-00, coconut Ac. 5-50, teak Ac. 36-00 eucalyptus Ac. 530-00.

WRIT PETITION No. 168/1970

9. Petitioner owns Ac. 3888-00 of which Ac. 3000-00 are private forest and Ac. 400-00 under rubber. There are also coconut gardens, arecanut gardens, teak and eucalyptus plantations.

WRIT PETITION No. 207/1970

10. Petitioner owns lands in Kasargod taluk in excess of the ceiling area. WRIT PETITION No. 516/1970

11. The petitioner owns Ac. 2-59 of land out of which Ac. 1-21 is his residential compound containing several buildings. He also owns Ac. 1-94 of paddy land in his direct possession besides a few tenants holding property under him. In the said land of Ac. 2-69 there are nine kudikidappukars (respondents 3 to 11) to each of whom he will have to transfer 10 cents of land if S.80-A of the Act is enforced. The buildings occupied by these respondents do not lie close to one another but are spread all over the property and parcelling out 10 cents of land to each of them in terms of the provisions of the Act with valuable coconut trees will destroy the utility of the petitioner's property permanently. According to the petition the Act in so far as it makes provision for the compulsory transfer of lands under the petitioner's personal cultivation to kudikidappukar is not a law of acquisition within the meaning of Art.31-A and as such is not entitled to