Liquor vends on agri land not permissible in UT: HC

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 15

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that liquor vends operating from agricultural land were not permissible in Chandigarh. A Division Bench also made it clear to the UT Administration to ensure that nobody operated liquor vends illegally.

The ruling came on a petition filed against the Chandigarh Administration and other respondents by M/s Tinku Wines through senior advocate Mohan Jain and Vikram Jain.

The petitioner’s only ground of challenge to the impugned action of sealing his liquor vend was that other similarly situated liquor vends on agricultural land were being permitted to operate.

“The petitioner is not entitled to operate a liquor vend from a prohibited area merely because other persons are operating vends in a similar illegal manner. The remedy then is to ensure that nobody operates liquor vends illegally,” the Bench of Chief Justice SJ Vazifdar and Justice Avneesh Jhingan said.

Responding to the assertion, UT senior standing counsel Suvir Sehgal said the inquiries against the private respondents (vend operators) were already pending. “Any party operating a liquor vend illegally will be proceeded against in accordance with law,” he said. Sehgal also told the court that he had no objection to the petitioner participating in such proceedings.

Accepting the statement, the Bench ordered that the petitioner would also be heard at the time of passing any order with respect to the respondent or any other similar party in Chandigarh. “The authority is requested to complete the proceedings as expeditiously as possible and preferably by February 15,” the Bench concluded.

The Chandigarh Administration had already told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that no less than 14 liquor vends in the city were functioning without authorisation. The High Court was further told that permission was not taken from the  Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.

The UT Excise and Taxation Department had also told the court that it had issued notices to all 70 retail sale liquor vends granted licences under the excise policy for 2017-18. 

During the course of the hearing, Mohan Jain had added that some of the liquor vends were functioning on agricultural land, which was not permissible under the law. 

It was surprising that the Chandigarh Administration showed utmost urgency in closing the petitioner’s liquor vend while not taking action against the other, evident from the perusal of the status report. 

The action demonstrated mala fide and illegality of the liquor vend closure order.

Mohan Jain also prayed for the closure of the 14 unauthorised liquor vends impleaded as respondents “in view of the written statement filed by the Chandigarh Administration on December 12 last year.