Liquor License: Maharashtra Minister Faces Supreme Court Ire for Reversing Restaurant's Liquor License Decision

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday strongly disapproved Maharashtra excise minister Sambhuraj Desai’s July 6, 2023 order to reverse competing decisions of the Amravati district collector and excise commissioner to cancel the license given to serve liquor in the bar of a restaurant in a residential area in Kathora.

A vacation bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan dismissed the appeal filed by the proprietor of ‘Shubh Restaurant’ saying when the two authorities had concurrently found that the liquor licence to the restaurant was illegal as the gram panchayat had not given the no objection certificate, the minister had no business to interfere with it.

“Just because you (the proprietor of the restaurant) are influential and can reach the minister, does not mean the minister can act arbitrarily. Why should a minister interfere with concurrent findings of the authorities below? For no good ground and no cogent reason the minister has upset the concurrent findings,” the bench said dismissing the appeal against the decision of Nagpur bench of the Bombay HC.

A woman teacher, who resided adjacent to the restaurant, had complained to the authorities because of the ruckus created there by people drinking alcohol served at the eating joint.

The Amravati collector had then sought a report from the gram panchayat, which informed that it had not given any no objection certificate to grant of liquor licence to the restaurant. Based on the panchayat’s report, the collector on May 5, 2021 cancelled the FL-III license of the restaurant.

On appeal by the restaurant proprietor, the excise commissioner on Aug 29, 2022, upheld the findings of the collector that ‘Shubh Bar’ was functioning without permission of gram panchayat, which also had never given permission to use the premises for commercial purposes.

Faulting the minister’s decision, the Bombay HC had said, “It is nobody’s case that the permission/NOC of gram panchayat is not necessary to open/run a Bar/Permit Room in the residential area. Despite such status, the revisional authority (minister), without noting fault in the reasons assigned by the authorities below has set aside the concurrent findings.” The HC had restored the order of the excise commissioner.

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