' Petitioners five in number challenged the inactivity on the part of respondents in not granting them proprietary rights although they fulfilled all the terms and conditions of the grant.
2. Petitioners are undisputedly in possession of the land in question by virtue of 15 years' lease scheme and have been continuously cultivating the said land. On 3-9-1979 Government issued a Notification No,3215-79/3973- C-II by virtue of which the petitioners alongwith others were eligible to the grant of proprietary rights. The grant of the aforesaid rights were postponed on one pretext or the other till the land in question came within the municipal limits of Kot Mitha Tiwana upon which the petitioner, it is stated, became uneligible for the grant. However, they persisted in their demands and ultimately as luck would have it, the Municipal limits were reduced, again making the petitioners eligible for the grant of proprietary rights. Upon refusal by respondents to bestow the said rights, they were constrained to file the present writ petition.
3. Comments were called. In the comments submitted, all the facts were admitted, however, the petitioners were denied their due rights ground that the relaxation was not retrospective in operation.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner has bitterly criticized the action adopted by the respondents.
5. Learned A.A.-G. States that he has no cavil with the proposition that if the petitioners are otherwise eligible the question of retrospectively does not arise in the circumstances of the case.
6. The respondents shall once again take up the case of the petitioners and if they are found to be eligible, they will not deny the grant of proprietary rights to them merely on the ground of retrospectively.