The Secretary to Government of Tamil Nadu, Prohibition and Excise Department, Fort St. George, Chennai and the Licensing Authority, the Asst. Commissioner (Excise), Virudhunagar District, Virudhunagar Vs. K. Vinayagamurthy - Court Judgment

Excerpt:
excise - licence - sections 17c, 17d, 17e, 18b, 18c, 20, 21 and 54 of tamil nadu prohibition act, 1937, general clauses act, 1897 and section 25 of customs act - petitioners were licensees of retail outlets - applied for renewal of licence - renewal not permitted by government order - court entitled to probe into reasonableness of government orders that whether they can sustain in toto or in part - petitioners were willing to get their licence renewed on payment of licence fee - no reason to exclude petitioners from right of renewal - government at liberty to grant retail vending - if delay made in renewal then petitioners entitled to vend indian made foreign liquor in retail on payment of proportionate privilege amount till grant of licence - re-location of shops permitted only after safeguarding shops run by petitioners. - order:the government have carefully examined the policy to be adopted for licensing of the indian made foreign liquor retail vending shops for the block period 2001-2004 and have decided that a new licensing system should be followed for the licensing of the indian made foreign liquor retail vending shops for the block period 2001-2004.2.the government also direct that, a)the number of indian made foreign liquor retail vending shops for the entire state for the block period 2001-2004 be fixed at 6000.b)the privilege fee of the indian made foreign liquor retail vending shops for the year 2001-2002 shall be worked out on notified area basis, taking the average privilege fee of the last three years and providing for some suitable increase. there should be a uniform privilege fee for a given notified area.c)a notice inviting applications in a format to be prescribed for the grant of licence for the year 2001-2002 should be published in the newspapers on 23.6.2001 and 24.6.2001 stipulating 28.6.2001 as the last date for receipt of applications. in case there are more than one eligible applications per shop, the selection shall be by drawal of lot in the presence of the district collectors and licences shall be issued thereafter. the district collectors are instructed to grant licences on or before 10.7.2001. the shops should start functioning from 16.7.2001.d)the licensee should lift the minimum off-take fixed for the shop by the licensing authority. in case of failure to lift the minimum off-take consecutively for two months, the licensee will be liable to pay a penalty in proportion to the loss of revenue due to non-lifting of stock and if there is default for a period of another two months consecutively, the licence will be liable to be cancelled. necessary amendments to the tamil nadu liquor (retail vending) rules, 1989, will be issued separately in this regard. 3.the commissioner of prohibition and excise and the collectors are requested to take immediate action to implement the orders contained in the paragraph 2 above. (by

Judgment:
ORDER

:

The Government have carefully examined the policy to be adopted for licensing of the Indian Made Foreign Liquor retail vending shops for the block period 2001-2004 and have decided that a new licensing system should be followed for the licensing of the Indian Made Foreign Liquor retail vending shops for the block period 2001-2004.

2.The Government also direct that,

a)The number of Indian Made Foreign Liquor retail vending shops for the entire State for the block period 2001-2004 be fixed at 6000.

b)The privilege fee of the Indian Made Foreign Liquor retail vending shops for the year 2001-2002 shall be worked out on notified area basis, taking the average privilege fee of the last three years and providing for some suitable increase. There should be a uniform privilege fee for a given notified area.

c)A notice inviting applications in a format to be prescribed for the grant of licence for the year 2001-2002 should be published in the newspapers on 23.6.2001 and 24.6.2001 stipulating 28.6.2001 as the last date for receipt of applications. In case there are more than one eligible applications per shop, the selection shall be by drawal of lot in the presence of the District Collectors and licences shall be issued thereafter. The District Collectors are instructed to grant licences on or before 10.7.2001. The shops should start functioning from 16.7.2001.

d)The licensee should lift the minimum off-take fixed for the shop by the licensing authority. In case of failure to lift the minimum off-take consecutively for two months, the licensee will be liable to pay a penalty in proportion to the loss of revenue due to non-lifting of stock and if there is default for a period of another two months consecutively, the licence will be liable to be cancelled. Necessary amendments to the Tamil Nadu Liquor (Retail Vending) Rules, 1989, will be issued separately in this regard.

3.The Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise and the Collectors are requested to take immediate action to implement the orders contained in the paragraph 2 above. (BY