G.R.MAJITHIA, J.

1. The writ petitioners have challenged the order of the Director of Consolidation of Holdings Punjab passed under Sec.42 of the East Punjab Holding (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 (for short, hereinafter referred to as the Act) in this petition.

2. The brief facts as unfolded in the writ petition are these. The petitioners are in possession of different parcels of land under the Gram Panchayat (respondent 2). The land was described as Shamlat deh in the revenue record and owned by the Gram Panchayat. It was mutated in the name of the Gram Panchayat in the year 1956-57 under the provisions of Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Village Common Lands Act).

3. The right holders of the village, including respondents 3 to 6, preferred a petition under Sec.42 of the Act before the Director of Consolidation of Holdings, Punjab, in Aug. 1985, contending that the land in dispute was Banjar Qadim and according to the entry in the Wajib-ul-Arz of the village it had to be apportioned among the proprietors and Khewatdars of the village prorate of their holdings in the revenue estate, that the Direc