MARATHWADA BANJARA JAGRATI SANGHATANA Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD. THE petitioner in the instant writ petition is an association established for organizing the people of the Banjara Community in the Marathwada Region of the State of Maharashtra. The petitioner has challenged in the instant writ petition the relevant Licensing Rules for sale of country liquor and foreign liquor contained in the Maharashtra Country Liquor Rules, 1973 (for short, "the Country Liquor Rules") and the Bombay Foreign Liquor Rules, 1953) (for short "the Foreign Liquor Rules") respectively, framed under the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949 (for short, the "act"), on the ground that the said Licensing Rules are arbitrary, discriminatory and are thus violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India (for short "the Constitution" ). The petitioner has also challenged the said Rules on the ground that they are mala fide as they are intended to promote the interest of the liquor lobby in the State.

(2.) THE basic submission urged on behalf of the petitioner in support of the above challenges is that under these Licensing Rules, to achieve the object and policy of augmenting the finances of the State by procuring the highest revenue from the grant of licences for retail sale of country liquor and foreign liquor the State Government should have laid down a procedure of auctioning the said licences under the aforesaid Rules framed by the State Government in respect of the country liquor and the foreign liquor as it has done in the case of Toddy shops, for which as per Rule 3 of the Maharashtra Toddy Shop (Grant of Licence by Auction or Tender) Order, 1968, the licence for the toddy shops are granted by holding the auctions or by calling the tenders.

(3.) IN appreciating the above submissions, it is necessary to notice the procedure prescribed under the Country Liquor Rules and the Foreign Liquor Rules. Rule 23 of the Country Liquor Rules requires that an application for licence for retail sale of country liquor should be made giving the necessary details as required by the said Rules in the form prescribed thereunder. There is also a fee prescribed for the application for licence thereunder co-related to the population of the village, town or city in which the shop is located. After scrutinising the said application under the relevant Rules, Rule 24 provides for grant of licence and the various scales of fees are prescribed as licence fees, depending upon the population of the village, town or the city in which the licence is granted. It is material to see that the licence fees which are in the discretion of the State Government, which frames the Rules, are recently revised under the Government Notification dated 16-5-1988 by amending Rule 24 (1-B) of the Country Liquor Rules. Another material amendment which needs to be noticed is that although previously the application for licence under Rule 23 had to be made to the State Government through the Collector, as per the amendment made to the said Rule on 17-2-1989 vide Notification 181 No. BPA. 1089/v/pro 2, (Maharashtra Government Gazette, Part IV-B dated 9-3-1989 p. 321) the said application has to be made to the Collector. The fees upon the application for licences are also increased thereunder.