In a landmark decision, the Rajasthan High Court has stated that there is no provision under the Excise Act or any other regulations that mandates the renewal of liquor store licenses without the consent of the licensees. The court also imposed an interim stay on the execution of the order issued by the department on March 13, concerning this matter.
Justice Mahendra Kumar Goyal, presiding over the single bench, delivered this verdict in response to petitions filed by Krishna Sharma and others. The court clarified that the interim stay would only apply to the cases of the petitioners.
Senior advocate R.B. Mathur, representing the petitioners, informed the court that there are over seven thousand five hundred liquor stores in the state. The petitioners had obtained licenses for the operation of these stores for the fiscal year 2023-24. In the current financial year, bids for over four thousand stores failed to attract any bidders. Despite the Excise Department conducting auctions for the petitioners’ stores, no bids were received. Subsequently, on March 13, citing the model code of conduct, the department issued an order stating that the licenses of the store owners expiring on March 31, 2024, would be renewed for three months based on new regulations.
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The petition highlighted that the department did not consider the store owners’ perspectives before issuing the order. Moreover, it emphasized that licenses could not be renewed without the owners’ consent, and the owners were not interested in continuing the operation of the stores. Taking these arguments into account, the single bench imposed an interim stay on the implementation of the Excise Department’s order.
