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14. On the20th June 1979 the Constitution (44th Amendment) Act came into effect. Under Section 7 of the said Amendment Act, Articles 31 and 19(1)(f) were deleted from the Constitution.

15. On the 4th Mar. 1980 one U.P. Electricity Supply Co. Ltd. moved this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution challenging the vires of the said Amendments and Validation Ordinances and Acts resulting in the Amendment of the said Act of 1910. The respondent 1 was a party to the said proceedings. A Rule was issued by this Court in the said matter and leave was given to the respondent 1 to participate in the proceedings before the Special Officer without prejudice to its rights and contentions.

57. Learned Advocate for the respondent No. 1 contended to the contrary. He submitted that on the exercise of the option by the appellant to take over the aforesaid undertakings of the respondent 1 on 30th Nov. 1962 a right accrued in favour of the respondent No. 1 namely, a right to obtain the purchase prices of its undertakings at the market value thereof at the time of the purchase or at the time of delivery. This right by itself was a property within the meaning of Article 19(1)(f) of the Constitution, Articles 31 and 19(1)(f) remained in the Constitution till the 20th June 1979 when the Constitution (44th Amendment) Act came into effect. Such right could not be taken away from the respondent No. 1 without paying adequate compensation.

65. It was contended that whatever was the position, the net result would be the same. The right which accrued in favour of the respondent 1 under the licences issued supported by the principal Act of 1910 was being sought to be taken away by retrospective legislation. It could not be disputed that when the Amending and Validating Act came into force, a clear right had accrued in favour of the respondent No. 1 which was sought to be taken or destroyed with retrospective effect without compensation. The decision in the case of Rai Ramkrishna (supra) did not deal with destruction of such vested right. If such a right accrued in favour of the respondent No. 1 since 1929 viz., the date of the licences the retrospective legislation which went back up to 1959 could not affect such right at all and such a right could be protected by Articles 14, 19(1)(f) and 31(2) of the Constitution. The 44th Amendment to the Constitution came into effect only from the 20th June 1979.

84. His Lordship relied on the decisions of the Supreme Court in the case of Jayvantsinghji v. State of Gujarat (supra) and Madan Mohan Pathak v. Union of India (supra).

85. (i) Waman Rao v. Union of India . This decision of the Supreme Court was cited for the following observation :

"By Section 7 of the Constituion (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act. 1978 the reference to Article 31 was deleted from the concluding portion of Article 31A(1) with effect from June 20, 1979, as a consequence of the deletion by Section 2 of the 44th Amedmem of Clause (f) of Article 19(1) which gave to the citizens the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property. The deletion of the right to property from the array of fundamental rights will not deprive the petitioners of their arguments which were available to them prior to the coming into force of the 44th Amendment, since the imgugned Acts were passed before June 20, 1979 on which date Article 19(1)(f) was deleted."