HC rejects pleas against closure of bars at midnight in Panchkula
The high court dismissed the pleas from Panchkula bar owners, who had challenged the clause in the excise policy for financial year 2024-2025, which was enforced in June 2024 and will be applicable till June 2025
The Punjab and Haryana high court has dismissed petitions challenging the Haryana government decision of not allowing serving of liquor in Panchkula bars and pubs post midnight.
The high court dismissed the pleas from Panchkula bar owners, who had challenged the clause in the excise policy for financial year 2024-2025, which was enforced in June 2024 and will be applicable till June 2025.
In financial year 2023-24, in Panchkula, pubs/bars were allowed to serve liquor throughout the night after paying a fixed fee.
In the plea, the bar owners had argued that it was a case of discrimination as similarly placed persons (in other districts) had been treated differently by the authorities.
While in Gurugram and Faridabad, pubs and bars were being allowed to serve liquor for the entire night, in Panchkula it was being allowed till midnight only. The plea said the petitioners were running hospitality businesses and had spent crores on them. But the government had now taken a U-turn and not allowing serving of liquor past midnight.
The court dismissed the plea, observing that the excise policy was different for different districts in the state. The licence holders of L-4 and L-5 of districts of Faridabad and Gurugram and for that matter other districts, including Panchkula, cannot be said to be similarly situated nor it can be said that they were a singular class qua excise policy.
The amount of licence fee which they had to pay was different from what was being paid by licence holders in Panchkula.
“..once the petitioners have obtained license under the said excise policy and are doing their business in the terms laid down therein, they cannot turn around and challenge part of the said policy which does not suit them. Principle of ‘take it or leave it’ has to be accepted and applied in contractual matters. Where a person wants to do liquor trade, he would have to accept the conditions as framed by the state. No one has stopped the petitioners from doing business at Gurugram, if they found it to be more lucrative,” the bench asserted, adding that a person carrying on liquor trade would know what was in store for them for the entire year. Change in excise policy for each year was well known to all, it added.
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