SYLVIA LEO CARVGALHO Vs. COLLECTOR OF MUMBAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) RULE. Returnable forthwith. Mr. R. M. Sawant, Government Pleader waives service for respondents.

(2.) BY consent, rule is heard forthwith.

(3.) BRIEF facts as set out by the petitioner in the writ petition are: One Leo J. Carvalho was the licensee and carrying on business of running the country liquor bar in the name and style of M/s. Leos Bar at Achanak Niwas, Opp. Darpan Cinema, A. K. Road, Andheri (East), Mumbai. The said Leo J. Carvalho expired on 1-6-99 leaving behind the petitioner and her minor son as his only legal heirs. On the death of Leo J. Carvalho, the petitioner made an application for transfer of the licence for country liquor bar viz. Licence No. CL III 50 in her name since the licensee (her husband) had died. The said application made by the petitioner to the Collector of Bombay on 4-6-99 for transfer of the licence in her name is still pending. The petitioner was allowed to carry on the business on the strength of the licence granted to her husband till such time her name was added in the licence. On 17-12-99, the petitioner received a letter from the first respondent calling upon her to pay a sum of Rs. 97,000/- as privilege fee for transferring the licence to her name from the name of her late husband. It is the case of the petitioner that she has been told categorically by the office of the first respondent that if she did not pay the privilege fee as demanded in the letter dated 17-12-99 she would be stopped from running the said Bar. In the backdrop of these facts, the petitioner seeks to challenge the demand made by the first respondent in the sum of Rs. 97,000/- for transferring the licence to her name from the name after the death of her husband.