- (1.) Greed, whether in an individual, or in a Corporation, or even in a State, is a cardinal sin. Allured by the elusive El Dorado, like the conquistadors, at times, the State can plunder the Constitutional treasure trove of rights and duties. When the State behaves like a drunken elephant in a lotus pond, the task of reining in the mammoth falls on the Judiciary. For, State excess invite judicial intervention.
(2.) The present case is a paradigm example of the State acting as a modern day King Midas. The bone of contention between the petitioner, on the one hand, and the State and the Urban Improvement Trust, Kota (the 'UIT', for short), on the other hand, is a piece of land which initially belonged to the Instrumentation Ltd. ('IL' for short), a Central Government undertaking. In order to fully comprehend the dispute in the present case, it is imperative to first understand the history of the land.
(3.) In order to encourage industrialization in Rajasthan, the Central Government decided to establish the IL in Kota. For this purpose, on 16-4-1970, the Revenue department of the Government of Rajasthan allotted about 400 acres of land to the IL in Kota. However, despite the best of efforts, after three decades, the IL became a sick industry. The task of reviving the sick industry fell on the State Government and on others. Therefore, a decision was taken that out of the 400 acres of land allotted to the IL, about 90 acres of land would be surrendered to the State Government. The said land would be referred to as 'the surplus land'.;