Delhi HC dismisses plea seeking licence renewals for liquor sale in dept stores

The plea had challenged the Delhi government’s decision to not invite any applications for the issuance of L-12/L-12F licences, which allow retail sale of beer and wine, both imported and locally made, at department stores.

The Delhi high court has dismissed a plea that sought a direction to the government for the renewal of licences to sell beer and wine at department stores across the city.

The petition had challenged the decision of the Delhi Cabinet whereby licences of all 125 stores were withdrawn despite violations being made only by 41 licensees. (Reuters file photo. Representative image)

The plea had challenged the Delhi government’s decision to not invite any applications for the issuance of L-12/L-12F licences, which allow retail sale of beer and wine, both imported and locally made, at department stores.

While dismissing the plea, the court said it cannot interfere with the policy decisions of the state (Delhi) government, unless the same is found to be at fault on the grounds of “mala fide, unreasonableness, arbitrariness or unfairness”.

In an order of September 16, a copy of which was uploaded on the court website on September 18, the court said that the Delhi government had not renewed the licences as it had decided to “bring in a revamped scheme with necessary modifications to plug all loopholes” .

The petition had challenged the decision of the Delhi Cabinet whereby licences of all 125 stores were withdrawn despite violations being made only by 41 licensees. The petitioner had moved the high court last December aswell, challenging the withdrawal of all 125 licences mid-tenure on the basis of searches conducted by the excise department. The court has then granted a stay on the withdrawal of licences for fiscal 2019-2020.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Rushab Aggarwal contended that L12 & L12F are renewable licences under the Delhi Excise Rules and his client had a legitimate expectation of renewal as has been done every year.

Appearing for the Delhi government, standing counsel Ramesh Singh contended that in September 2019, it had inspected 41 of 125 stores and found large scale violations. He said stores were operating as liquor vends by failing to comply with the terms and conditions of the licence, in particular the stipulation that only 10% of the store carpet area be used for the sale of beer and wine.