JUDGMENT

BHAGWATI, J.:— These two writ petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution raise questions of some importance in the field of constitutional law but they are not abstract questions which can be divorced from the facts giving rise to them and in order to resolve them satisfactorily, it is necessary to state the facts in some detail. Though the petitioners in two writ petitions are different, the respondents are the same and the same Order of the State of Jammu and Kashmir is challenged in both the writ petitions. Hence whatever we say it regard to the first writ petition applies equally in regard to the second.

2. The dispute in these writ petitions relates to the validity of an Order dated 27th April, 1979, passed by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, allotting to the 2nd respondents 10 to 12 lacs blazes annually for extraction of resin from the inaccessible chir forests in Poonch, Reasi and Ramban Divisions of the State for a period of 10 years on the terms and conditions set out in the Order. The validity of the Order has been challenged on various grounds which we shall presently set out, but in order to understand and appreciate these grounds, it is necessary to sta