Punjab and Haryana High Court makes issuance of bills mandatory on sale of liquor in Punjab, Haryana
Punjab and Haryana High Court makes issuance of bills mandatory on sale of liquor in Punjab, Haryana
“Courts can interfere to modify such policy by inclusion of any specific clause therein which can be made mandatory. This type of interference does not amount to assumption of legislative function by court,” the division bench said in the judgement.
Written by Sofi Ahsan
| Chandigarh |
Published: March 8, 2018 1:41 am
The division bench said that the liquor sale is a business “attended with danger to the community” and can be permitted under such conditions which can limit its evils. (Representational Image)
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it mandatory for liquor vends in both the states of Punjab and Haryana to issue invoices on all sales, irrespective of the amount, to customers from April 2018. “We consider it appropriate that state governments of Haryana and Punjab make it obligatory for liquor vendors to issue invoices for all the sales effected by them from their vends with effect from the year 2018-19 onwards,” the division bench of Justices Ajay Kumar Mittal and Anupinder Singh Grewal said in the judgement passed on Tuesday in a PIL seeking provisions for mandatory issuance of bills at all the liquor vends. The PIL had been filed by the road safety activist Harman Singh Sidhu-led Arrive Safe Society.
The division bench, while rejecting the Haryana government’s contention that the courts should not interfere in the policy decisions of the state, said that the liquor sale is a business “attended with danger to the community” and can be permitted under such conditions which can limit its evils.
“No doubt, trade in liquor generates revenue, but at the same time, health of the nation is equally important. Generation of funds can be done by other means, but not at the cost of health of the nation. Necessarily, to mitigate and suppress this evil, state can impose certain conditions to regulate its sale,” the judgement reads. Deliberating on the question of judicial intervention in the policy decision, the division bench said the excise policy is not such a decision that cannot be interferred at all and observed that it is well settled if a policy is contrary to the public interest then it is the duty of the court to exercise its jurisdiction in larger public interest.
“Courts can interfere to modify such policy by inclusion of any specific clause therein which can be made mandatory. This type of interference does not amount to assumption of legislative function by the court,” the division bench said in the judgement. The Haryana government had incorporated a provision in its 2017-2018 excise policy making it mandatory for the vendor to issue an invoice but only for total sale of liquor exceeding Rs 1,000 and in case the sale is less than Rs1,000, it was to be issued on demand of the customer.
The division bench said that the liquor sale is a business “attended with danger to the community” and can be permitted under such conditions which can limit its evils. (Representational Image)
