1. Civil Writ Petition Nos. 2123 and 2124 of 1972, which have been filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, are being disposed of by this judgment. The questions of law and fact raised in these two petitions are almost the same and can be conveniently dealt with together.

2. The petitioners in each case were, at the relevant time, the members of the Gram Panchayat of village Pehowa, tahsil Guhla in Karnal district; Ragbir Singh petitioner No. 1 being the Sarpanch. The land mentioned in paragraph 1 of the petition in each case had vested in the Gram Panchayat under the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act of 1953 (Punjab Act No. 1 of 1954) which was repealed by and then at the same time re-enacted as an Act of the same name in 1961 (Punjab Act No. 18 of 1961). These lands had been leased out in 1950-51 by the Collector under the East Punjab Utilisation of Lands Act, 1949, for a period of twenty years. The land described in Civil Writ No. 2124 of 1972 had been leased out to the Karnal Co-operative Farmers Society Limited while the lessees of the land in the other case were some private persons. These lessees filed separate civil suits in June, 19