HOTEL OWNERS ASSOCIATION KALYAN Vs. COMMISSIONER, STATE EXCISE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Eight of the ten Petitioners in Writ Petition No 2873 of 2021 and the first petitioner in Writ Petition No 1980 of 2021 are associations of hotels; the others are individual members of one or the other of these associations. We heard these two petitions along with Writ Petitions (L) No 7126 of 2022 and Writ Petition (L) No 7848 of 2022, both filed in March 2022, on 25/3/2022. All petitioners were represented by common attorneys and by a single senior counsel, Mr Tulzapurkar. On 25/3/2022, after the hearing concluded, we reserved judgment and posted the matters for pronouncement on 30/3/2022 -- in our anticipation then the earliest possible date by which the judgment could be dictated, transcribed and corrected. As it happens, our draft was ready by the evening of 28/3/2022. That evening, we received a praecipe seeking a listing today, 29/3/2022, saying that the Petitioners in the two 2022 Writ Petitions sought to unconditionally withdraw them. We have listed all four petitions at 10:30 am on the supplementary board today. By a separate order, we have permitted the withdrawal of the two 2022 petitions. We also advance the date for pronouncement of judgment in the two 2021 Petition. No one can object to a judgment being pronounced earlier rather than later.

(2.) Vending of foreign liquor is controlled by licenses under the Maharashtra Prohibition Act, 1949 in Form FL-III, renewable annually. Foreign liquor is sold at the Petitioners' hotels. The Petitioners are unwilling to pay the license renewal fees prescribed by the State Government. They have paid 50% of the revised fees for 2021-2022. They are unwilling to pay more. They demand concessions. They complain of discrimination at the hands of the Respondents.

(3.) Under Rule 45 of the Maharashtra Foreign Liquor Rules 1953 ("the MFL Rules") and Rules 3 and 4 of the Maharashtra Potable Liquor (Periodicity and Fees for Grant, Renewal or Continuance of a Licenses) Rules 1996 ("the Periodicity Rules"), a FL-III license is valid from 1st April to 31st March. Rule 3 of the Periodicity Rules requires that revised license fees be notified in the Official Gazette.