STATE OF KERALA Vs. RADHAKRISHNAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants were the respondents in the Writ Petition. The respondents were the writ petitioners.

(2.) The brief facts of the case are the following: The respondents are the partners of Apsara Tourist Home. The said firm was having an FL-3 licence, authorising retail sale of Indian Made Foreign Liquor in its restaurant. There were 12 partners for the said firm, when it was reconstituted as per Ext.P2, on 1.4.1996. One of them, K.V. Balakrishnan, died on 13.6.2003. After his death, it was decided to reconstitute the partnership, with the remaining 11 partners. The son of K.V. Balakrishnan was already a partner of the firm. Annexure R-II dated 27.6.2003 was the partnership deed executed, pursuant to the said decision. It was forwarded to the Excise Commissioner, by Annexure R-III. But, the same was not approved by the said officer. The licence of the firm was being renewed from time to time.

(3.) Another partner, A.P. Antony, died on 9.10.2006. All his sons were already the partners of the firm. On his death, again, motion was made for reconstitution of the partnership, as per Ext.Pl dated 19.10.2006. At the time of death of A.P. Antony, he was an Abkari defaulter. The amount defaulted related to some other Abkari business done by him, earlier. As on 1.9.2007, the amount due from him was Rs. 76,34,451/-. According to the respondents, the said amount due to the State from late A.P. Antony was realised on 24.4.2007. According to the State, the amount was cleared only on 21.4.2008. Because of the default of A.P. Antony, it appears, his children, who were partners of the firm, were also treated as defaulters. So, the FL3 licence granted to the firm was not renewed from 1.4.2007. In the above back ground, the Writ Petition was filed by the respondents, seeking the following reliefs: