East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act (50 of 1948) as amended by Punjab Act (27 of 1960) and the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act (1 of 1954) - Validity - Constitution of India, 1950, Arts. 19, 31, and 31A.

In a multitude of proceedings for the consolidation of holdings in certain villages in Punjab, some lands had been taken away from the proprietors, reserved, and given over to the village panchayats or allotted to non-proprietors, under powers derived from various enactments, namely, the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act (50 of 1948) as amended by Punjab Act (27 of 1960), the Punjab Gram Panchayat Act (4 of 1953), and the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act (1 of 1954). Under s. 7 of the last Act, the proprietors were not entitled to any compensation. They challenged the validity of the proceedings and the enactments under which the proprietors' interests were acquired without compensation as being in breach of Arts. 19(1)(g) and 31 of the Constitution. The High Court dismissed them, following its own Full Bench decision in Jagat Singh v. Punjab State (1962) P.L.R. 241. In appeals to the Supreme Court, it was contended that: (i) The Full Bench decision was not correct in view of the decision in K. K. Kochuni v. State of Madras [(1960) 3 S.C.R. 887]; and (ii) the Amending Act (27 of 1960) and the Regulation Act (1 of 1954) were ultra vires.