HC declines interim relief to liquor vendors challenging three-day dry period for civic polls

The Bombay High Court denied interim relief to liquor vendors challenging a ban on sales during municipal elections from January 14-16.

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to grant interim relief to an association of liquor vendors that had challenged the Maharashtra government’s decision to impose restrictions on the sale of liquor from January 14 to January 16 in view of municipal corporation elections.

HC declines interim relief to liquor vendors challenging three-day dry period for civic polls

Polling is scheduled on January 15 from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm, with counting of votes to be held the next day between 10 am and 5 pm. The state government issued a series of notifications between January 9 and January 12 banning liquor sales for the three days, including the polling day and the day of result declaration on January 16.

The Association of Progressive Retail Liquor Vendors approached the high court seeking a direction to limit the restriction only to polling hours on January 15. It argued that the ban should apply only until voting concludes and not for two and a half days, contending that the extended restriction would cause “irreparable harm” to commercial establishments.

Appearing for the association, counsel submitted there was no justification for imposing the ban on January 14, when neither campaigning nor polling was scheduled, and also questioned the need for a restriction on the day of counting.

The association further argued that Section 135-C of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which provides for prohibition on the sale and distribution of liquor during elections, does not apply to municipal corporation elections. “There is no reason to ban the sale of liquor a day prior to the elections and on the day when the counting of votes is going on,” it said.

Opposing the plea, additional government pleader Priyanka Chavan told the court that counting would likely take only two to three hours and the ban would be lifted on January 16 as soon as the results are declared.

A division bench of Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice Abhay J Mantri, however, relied on provisions of the Maharashtra Foreign Liquor (Sale on Cash, Register of Sales) Rules, 1969, and noted that the rules explicitly empower the government to prohibit liquor sales on the day preceding polling, on the polling day, and on the day counting concludes.

“This aspect which is in the statute book, in our view, cannot be overlooked,” the bench observed.

The court said the challenge could be examined only if the rule itself, as it stands today, is found to be arbitrary and an unreasonable restriction on commercial activity and the right to carry on business. With these observations, it declined to grant interim relief, but issued notice to the respondents and posted the matter for further hearing on March 16.