- (1.) THIS petition and a number of other such petitions have been referred to a division Bench because a common point of always is involved in all of them namely as to the validity or the effect of the Punjab Development of Damaged areas (Validation) Act, 1963.
(2.) FACTS in these petitions are not quite identical and besides this law point various another points also arise. It is not necessary to go into facts of the individual petitions for the limited purpose of deciding the validity and effect of the validating Act referred to above.
(3.) THE facts necessary for the decisions of the point referred may briefly he stated as follows: Under the Punjab Development of Damaged areas Act 1951, which replaced the Punjab Development of Damaged Areas Act 1951 which replaced the Punjab Development of Damaged Areas Ordinance (16 of 1950), "damaged area", as defined in sub-clause (d) of section 2 means "an area which the State Government may be notification declare to be a damaged area and shall include the areas already notified under the East punjab Damaged Areas Act, 1949", and under clause (c) "improvement trust " or "trust" means " an improvement Trust constituted under the punjab Town Improvement Act, 1922". One such Trust was constituted for Amritsar town where during the communal disturbances immediately before the partition of the country a considerably portion of the city was damaged. Under section 3 the Trust is empowered to frame a scheme or schemes for the development of a damaged area, providing for the various matters mentioned in section 28 of the Punjab Town improvement Act, 1922. ;