More than 100 country liquor shop owners have knocked on the doors of the Bombay high court challenging the government’s order.
The state government’s decision to shift country liquor shops outside the limits of the gram panchayat and practically outside a village has raised a serious debate. More than 100 country liquor shop owners have knocked on the doors of the Bombay high court challenging the government’s order alleging that it is a backdoor method of boosting the sale of unhygienic and illicit liquor.
A full bench comprising of justices BH Marlapalle, VK Tahilramani and Roshan Dalvi has been constituted to decide on whether the government’s decision is legal.
One of the petitioners — Babasaheb Pol, 40, is the proprietor of a licenced country liquor shop since 1973 at Gherdi village in Solapur. Pol was granted a licence under the provisions of the Maharashtra Country Liquor Rules, 1973, which have been framed under section 143 of the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949.
According to the petition, the issue had surfaced during the second session of the legislative assembly in 2008, when the minister of state excise gave an assurance on the floor of the house that all country liquor shops located within the limits of the gram panchayat in villages would be shifted outside village boundary.
Veena Thadani and Vishal Thadani, counsels for Pol, argued that such a notice was in violation of his right to practice legal business as there will be no customers outside the village. “If a person is directed to shift his business outside the boundary of the village, then he will be entering the boundary of the neighbouring of the village,” Thadani argued. She further submitted that this amounted to virtually being forced to close down the business.
However, Indian made foreign liquor and even beer shops are allowed to function in the village, the petition points out.
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