New Delhi, April 19
The Supreme Court today stayed the proceedings in all liquor shop auction related matters in the Punjab and Haryana High Court after the Punjab Government moved an application for the transfer of all such cases to the apex court.
A Bench of Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu, Mr Justice A. R. Lakshmanan and Mr Justice G. P. Mathur, issuing notices to the petitioners who had challenged the auction of the liquor shops, said "further proceedings in the high court are stayed."
When counsel for the petitioners who had moved the high court opposed the government's transfer application on the ground that every writ petition there was based on different facts, the Bench rejected the plea and said: "This court is already seized of the matter".
The Supreme Court on April 2 had issued notices to the opposing parties on a Punjab Government Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the high court order quashing the auction in Jalandhar, Nawanshahr and Hoshiarpur districts.
Senior advocate P. P. Rao, appearing for Punjab along with its Advocate-General, Mr Harbhagwan Singh, submitted that the same question of law was involved in all fresh petitions in the high court as was in the SLP.
In all, six new petitions had come before the high court challenging the auction in the entire state, Mr Rao told the Bench, contending that any adverse order would cause huge financial loss to the state. The total licence fee involved in the auction in the state was about Rs 1,278 crore, the Advocate-General said.
Though government counsel also sought stay of the high court order quashing the auctions in Jalandhar, Nawanshahr and Hoshiarpur while making a plea for early disposal of the SLP, the court did not say anything about it at this stage.
