Chandigarh, March 31
The Congress government in Punjab suffered a setback with the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the setting aside of liquor vend auctions in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr districts.
Pronouncing the orders in an open court, a Division Bench, comprising Mr Justice N.K. Sud and Mr Justice Hemant Gupta, also directed the state to reauction the vends in accordance with the Punjab Excise Act, the Liquor Licence Rules and the auction conditions.
The Bench added that the reauction would be conducted under the supervision of three Financial Commissioners belonging to the state. Accepting the prayer of Punjab’s Advocate-General (AG) Harbhagwan Singh, the Judges also allowed the existing licencees to continue running and managing the vends till April 10 or till the date of reauction, whichever was earlier, on payment of existing fee.
The court had initially directed the state to run the vends till fresh auction was conducted, but the AG asserted that the state was not possessing the necessary infrastructure to run and manage the vends.
The judgement is significant as Opposition parties in the state had all along been accusing the government of acting against public interest due to political reasons. They were quick to demand the Chief Minister’s resignation on moral grounds soon after the verdict was delivered. As many as 856 vends will now have to be reauctioned.
In his petition, liquor contractor Sanjeev Bhandari had earlier challenged the clubbing of Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr circles. He had alleged that the Punjab government was encouraging monopoly in liquor trade in favour of baron Ponti Chadha. He had alleged that liquor vends in Nawanshahr were allotted to Mr Chadha’s firm for Rs 37 crore against available bid of Rs 40 crore.
Appearing before the court, Mr Mohan Jain submitted on the petitioner’s behalf that the auction for vends in Hoshiarpur was closed at Rs 70 crore despite the fact that the petitioner and his associates had offered Rs 72 crore.
He had further alleged that the entire process of auctioning liquor vends of Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Jalandhar was completed within a few minutes in violation of the licence rules, auction conditions and directions issued by the High Court.
Denying the allegations of favouring Mr Chadha, the state of Punjab had claimed that he was neither the owner, nor the partner of the firm which secured the bid. In a written statement, the state had asserted that Mr Chadha’s name was not figuring in the list of successful bidders for Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr vends.
Seeking directions for dismissing the petition, the state had asserted that the auction was carried out in accordance with the excise policy, besides directions issued by the courts. Public interest was also kept in mind.
After going through the documents and hearing the arguments in the case, the Judges ruled that a bid of Rs 72 crore made on the petitioner’s behalf was completely ignored.
Speaking for the Bench, Mr Justice Gupta further ruled that the bid of Rs 70 crore was finalised without adopting the recognised procedure. Moreover, opportunity was not given to other prospective bidders. This was clear from the video recording of the auction. The Judge added that the auction was conducted in violation of the Punjab Liquor Licence Rules and the auction conditions.
