HC notice to State excise on Sameer Wankhede’s petition against FIR

He was booked for misleading the excise department by misrepresenting his age for securing a liquor licence

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday issued a notice to the state excise department on a petition filed by IRS officer Sameer Wankhede seeking to quash a First Information Report (FIR) against him for allegedly submitting a false affidavit to secure a liquor license for his restaurant, Hotel Sadguru.

Mumbai, India - September 03, 2021: Bombay High Court at Fort, in Mumbai, India, on Friday, September 03, 2021. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

A division bench of Justices A.S. Gadkari and R.R. Bhonsale has posted the petition for further hearing after two weeks.

The case dates to February 19, 2022, when the Kopri police in Thane registered an FIR against Wankhede under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating, forgery, disobedience of a lawful order, and false statement on oath to a public servant. The case was registered at the behest of Satyavaan Gogavale, an inspector of the state excise department. He was booked for misleading the excise department by misrepresenting his age for securing a liquor licence. According to the FIR, Wankhede mentioned he was ‘adult’ in the affidavit even though he was not yet 18 at the time he applied for a liquor license.

On February 1, 2022, Rajesh Narvekar, Thane collector, issued an order to seal the restaurant owned by Wankhede and cancel the liquor license under the Bombay Prohibition Act on the grounds that he secured the license in 1997, when he was underage. His order stated that the licence was obtained by wilful misrepresentation or fraud, as the agreement of sale does not mention Wankhede’s age at the time, but his mother’s age. The order also stated that the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (CIDCO) had permitted only a restaurant, not a bar. Additionally, it said, he had many alterations to the approved restaurant plan. Following the order, the excise department will now seal the bar.

Wankhede’s petition challenged the FIR registered against him. He said he turned 18 in December 1997, after which the license was renewed annually for 23 years. The cancellation order violated his fundamental rights and should be quashed, he contended. Further, Wankhede added that the complaint, filed at the behest of the inspector of Thane excise office, was arbitrary and motivated, as no case was made out against him. Moreover, Wankhede said, Hotel Sadguru is not a bar but a family restaurant.

Senior advocates Aabad Ponda and Rizwan Merchant, representing Wankhede, opposed the FIR, stating that it lacked any legal foundation and was politically motivated. They argued that Wankhede was above 17, and a few months short of 18, when his name was added to the licence. Advocate Ponda informed the court that the licence was initially in Wankhede’s mother’s name.

The petition claimed that the order was violative of the principles of natural justice and fundamental rights under Articles 14 (equality), 21 (right to life and personal liberty), and 19(1)(g) (right to practice any profession) of the Constitution. The petition alleges that the collector’s order was issued due to personal vendetta and political pressure by NCP leader Nawab Malik.

“The petitioner turned 18 on December 14, 1997, and thereafter the licence has been renewed ... every year for 23 years. Contract with a minor is not void but is voidable at the instance of the minor after he attains the age of majority, but after completion of 18 years, the petitioner has renewed the licence every year for the past 23 years,” the petition states.