Bombay High Court
THE Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court Thursday directed the state to immediately permit liquor shops and bars located within municipal limits, whose licences for 2017-18 have been renewed, to resume businesses. The bench also directed the state government to decide about other such establishments, whose applications for renewal are pending, before August 5. The court said failing this, it would be constrained to pass the appropriate orders itself during the next hearing.
The directives were issued by the bench comprising Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Justice Rohit Deo on a clutch of petitions by liquor vendors affected by a previous Supreme court order banning liquor shops from operating within 500m of national highways. The petitioners had sought immediate orders from the state to reopen their businesses following the SC’s recent clarification that its order did not apply to vends within municipal limits.
The state Thursday told the court that it had no problem allowing shops whose licences had been renewed for 2017-18 to start operating immediately. The government added that it would decide on the pending applications within one week and also issue necessary guidelines to excise department officials.
