Monday , December 23 2024

Order to force license holders to operate liquor shops for three months canceled

Jaipur, 10 May (HS). The Rajasthan High Court has canceled the state government's order of March 13, 2024, considering it arbitrary and illegal, in which existing licensees were asked to operate liquor shops till June 30, 2024. Along with this, the court has directed the state government to return to the petitioners within four weeks whatever money they have deposited under other heads including guarantees. If this is not done, the court has asked to pay interest on this amount. A single bench of Justice Mahendra Kumar Goyal gave this order while accepting the petitions of Krishna Sharma and 275 others.

Senior advocate RB Mathur associated with the case said that when the liquor shops did not come up under the new excise policy 2024-25 of the state government, the state government forcibly ordered the existing license holders to operate the liquor shops till June 30. Challenging this, he said that his contract with the state government is only till March 31 and the renewal of the license can be extended for further period only if he wishes. In such a situation, the state government cannot force them to operate the shops by arbitrarily extending the period of next three months. At the same time, after the end of the contract, other deposits including guarantee cannot be stopped from being paid. Therefore the order of the state government should be cancelled. Hearing which, the single bench has canceled the order of March 13, 2024 of the state government, calling it arbitrary.