KARUNAKAR MUDANN SHETTY Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ON April 5, 1973, one Madansingh Manvansingh residing at Ambarnath was granted licence in Form II bearing Licence No. 19 for selling Indian made Foreign Liquor by trade name M/s. Ambar Wine Mart, at Lokmanya Tilak Road, Ambarnath, Thane. Madansingh expired on November 23, 1974 leaving behind his widow Tarabai. The licence was transferred on February 25, 1975 in the name of Tarabai as the sole legal representative of deceased Madansingh. Prior to that date, on January 15, 1975 Tarabai entered into a partnership agreement with the petitioner for running the business of sale of liquor in the shop. On July 17, 1975, an application was made by Tarabai for inclusion of the name of the petitioner as a partner in the licence. The request was considered by the Collector and the name of the petitioner was admitted as partner in the licence.

(2.) ON July 28, 1979, Tarabai died and the petitioner gave intimation of her death on July 30, 1979 and also requested that the name of Tarabai should be deleted from the licence and the petitioner should be permitted to avail of the privileges under the licence. The request was turned down by Collector of Thane and the licence granted to Tarabai was forfeited to Government. The collector observed in the impugned order dated February 4, 1982 that the petitioner is not a member of the family of deceased licensee, but was admitted as a partner only and, therefore, cannot claim the continuance of licensed privileges after the death of Tarabai. The order of the collector is under challenge in this petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

(3.) SHRI Pradhan, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner, submitted that the order of the Collector is in violation of Rule 40 of the Bombay Foreign Liquor Rules, 1953. Rule 40 (1)reads as under :-