New Delhi, April 1
Aggrieved by yesterday’s order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashing the auction of liquor vends in three districts of Punjab, the state government today moved the Supreme Court seeking its immediate stay.
Additional Solicitor-General Mukul Rohtagi, appearing on behalf of the Punjab Government while mentioning about the filing of an appeal by the state, sought urgent hearing of it stating that the cancellation would cause huge financial loss to the state.
A Bench of Chief Justice V.N. Khare, Mr Justice S.B. Sinha and Mr Justice S.H. Kapadia fixed the hearing of the matter for tomorrow.
The Punjab Government in its appeal said the high court had erred in coming to the conclusion that the auction of the liquor vends in the districts of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr was not fair.
The auction was made in favour of only those contractors who had quoted the highest bid, the government claimed.
The high court in its order had quashed the contracts for liquor vends in the three districts on the ground that auction was done in violation of the Punjab Liquor Licences Rules and the excise policy of the state.
It had directed the state government to have fresh auction of the vends in these districts within 10 days under the supervision of three officers of the rank of Financial
Commissioners.
The total value of the auction for these districts had been estimated at Rs 240 crore.
