JUDGMENT

G.S. SINGHVI, J.

1. Delay condoned.

2. Leave granted.

3. More than 16 decades ago, John Stuart Mill wrote: "land differs from other elements of production, labour and capital in not being susceptible to infinite increase. Its extent is limited and the extent of the more productive kinds of it more limited still. It is also evident that the quantity of produce capable of being raised on any given piece of land is not indefinite. These limited quantities of land, and limited productiveness of it, are the real limits to the increase of production".

4. In 1947, the first Prime Minister of India Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru said "everything else can wait, but not agriculture". In its fifth and final report, the National Commission on Farmers headed by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan observed that prime farmland must be conserved for agriculture and should not be diverted for non- agricultural purposes, else it would seriously affect availability of food in the country where 60% population still depends on agriculture and people living below poverty line are finding it difficult to survive.

5. Unfortunately, these words of wisdom appear to have become irrelevant for the State apparatus which has us