Taking serious note of the Chandigarh administration allowing a liquor vend to operate from an “unsafe building” in Sector 17, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has asked the chief secretary for explanation.
“The UT administration prima facie seems to be hand-in-glove with the owner and the licensee,” the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry observed after facts regarding the case were brought out before the bench by senior advocate Anand Chhibbar, appearing for the petitioner.
“The chief secretary of the Chandigarh administration is directed to file an affidavit explaining why the said show-cause notice, dated August 7, 2025, has not yet been taken to its logical end? And how the building, which was declared unsafe for human habitation and ordered to be demolished, has been allowed to be occupied for running a liquor vend,” the court ordered while posting the matter for hearing on April 30.
Chhibbar had told the court that the basements of shop-cum-office (SCO) 125, 126 and 127 are being used as ahata (liquor vend) despite a UT show-cause notice last August terming the same as “unauthorised and impermissible”.
The submissions were made in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed last year by one Rajbir Singh Rai alleging that in 2014, a demolition order had been passed by the administration in respect of the building. However, despite that UT allowed opening of a liquor vend in the building last year, and the licence to run the vend has been given this year too.
{{/usCountry}}The submissions were made in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed last year by one Rajbir Singh Rai alleging that in 2014, a demolition order had been passed by the administration in respect of the building. However, despite that UT allowed opening of a liquor vend in the building last year, and the licence to run the vend has been given this year too.
{{/usCountry}}“...the present application raises a matter of grave public importance, involving serious risks to public health, safety, and security, necessitating urgent interim intervention by this court,” the plea said, demanding that liquor vend be removed and non- objection certificate given for the same be withdrawn.
Chhibbar had also cited the January 2025 Mehfil hotel building collapse and stated that there are chances of something similar happening at this site too. “Fortunately, the Mehfil hotel building was unoccupied at the time of its collapse… However, at the liquor vend, there are 200 to 300 people sitting at any given point of time,” he had told the court.
He had further argued that the state and its instrumentalities, which are constitutionally obligated to safeguard the life and safety of citizens under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, cannot be permitted to act in a manner that is directly antithetical to that obligation.
Taking note of the submissions, the court stated that the retail liquor licence issued to the firm for 2026 is not only “surprising but also shocking” as the same has been issued even after show-cause notice of August 2025 for a building declared unsafe and ordered to be demolished.
“The owner, obviously for earning money, has very conveniently occupied the premises and leased out the building to liquor licensee,” the court recorded a deferring hearing for April 30.