K. SUKUMARAN, J. - This appeal of the State is a classic illustration of the unlimited disabilities of that institution. It is a standing monument of bureaucratic indifference in its prime responsibility of tax collection. The story is weary, sprawling as it does over an extensive period of time. The actual contentions had added complications due to the criminal neglect of the officers and servants of the State. It is better to slice the preface and state the facts straightway.

2. Alwaye had hectic commercial activity even when it was a small town of the princely State of Travancore. The perennial Periyar, meandering through the town, its bathing ghats and market place, used to fertilise with its floods, the lower planes, where lush green coconut palms provided prosperity for the cultivating community. Oil trade could be a profitable venture of an enthusiastic entrepreneur. A Pareed Pillai and Bros., a firm, was one among the many which had extensive trade in oil. The extensive activities of the firm, reaching even the upper regions of the Indian Union are gatherable from a criminal judgment of this Court reported two decades back. [Vide Pareed Pillai v. State, (1969) KLT