Article 31A of the Constitution permits the acquisition or modification of proprietary rights without compensation, including the acquisition of land for common purposes of the village and the handing over of management and possession to the village Panchayat.

G.D.Khosla, J.

1. In this case we are concerned with the vires of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) (Second Amendment Validation) Act, 1960. This is Punjab Act No. 27 of 1960. The Act was promulgated as the result of a Full Bench decision of this Court in Munsha Singh V/s. State of Punjab, (1960) 62 Pun LR 1: (AIR 1960 Punj 317).

2. The judgment of the Full Bench contains a resume of the statutes and rules dealing with the question of consolidation of holdings, and I shall presently refer to the more relevant features of this legislation. The facts of the present case are that a scheme for the consolidation of holdings in village Bhoot in district Jullundur was prepared. Out of the consolidated pool of proprietary land 20 acres of laud was allotted to the Gram Panchayat for the common purposes of the village. No compensation was, however, paid to the proprietors for this land, and it is alleged that the deprivation of the use and management of these 20 acres is an infringement of the fundamental right of the petitioners, Kishan Singh and Shrimati Ishri, who are two of the proprietors of village Bhoot. The substance of the contention made on behalf of the petitioners is that they have been deprived of their property in a manner not permitted by the Constitution. This argument was repelled on behalf of the State, and it was contended that Article 31-A of the Constitution saves the Act and, therefore, the handing over of 20 acres of land to the Gram Panchayat under the impugned Act is perfectly legal.

3. The East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act (Act No. 30 of 1948) made provision For the consolidation of agricultural holdings and for preventing the fragmentation of agricultural holdings. Under Section 18 of this Act some land out of the common pool could be reserved for common purposes. In the Act, as originally framed, "common purpose" was not defined, but Clause (BB) to Section 2 was added by Act 22 of 1954 and "common purpose was defined as "any purpose in relation to any common need, convenience or benefit of the village." Earlier, by means of Punjab Act 1 of 1954, provision was made for vesting certain rights in Panchayats and in non-proprietors. The Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1953 (Punjab Act I of 1954) in Section 3 provided that all rights, title and interests included in the shamilat deh of any village would vest in the Panchayat having jurisdiction over the village, and that portion of the area in the abadi deh which was under the house owned by a non-proprietor would vest in that non-proprietor. Rules were framed under Act 50 of 1948. In 1957 the following sub-rule was added to rule 16 as originally framed:

"16 (ii). In an estate or estates where during consolidation proceedings there is no shamlat deh land or such land is considered inadequate, land shall be reserved for the village Panchayat and for other common purposes, under Section 18(c) of the Act. out of the common pool of the village at a scale prescribed by Government from time to time. Proprietary rights in respect of land so reserved (except the area reserved for the extension of abadi of proprietors and non-proprietors) shall vest in the proprietary body of the estate or estates concerned and it shall be entered in the column of ownership of record of rights as (Jumla Malkan Wa Digar Haqdaran Arazi Hasab Rasad Raqba). The management of such land shall be done by the Panchayat of the estate or estates concerned on behalf of the village proprietary body and the Panchayat shall have the right to utilize the income derived from the land so reserved for the common needs and benefits of the estate or estates concerned."

4. The result of all this legislation was that whenever consolidation of holdings took place in a village and the scheme was under preparation, the question of reserving a certain area for the common use of the village was considered. It was frequ