Chandigarh, May 29
The Supreme Court today stayed the operation of the judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which quashed the allotment of 993 liquor vends in Haryana. The matter came up before the Vacation Bench of the apex court, according to information received here.
The High Court had, on May 11, asked the Haryana Government to re-advertise the vends, which were allotted on March 31 through negotiations when no applications were received for these vends even after they were advertised thrice. The Excise and Taxation Department then invoked a rule which allowed it to allot the vends through negotiations.
The vends involved a revenue of Rs 220 crore. Since there were no takers for these, the department reduced the quota of liquor for the vends, and the subsequent licence fee. The vends were allotted for Rs 152 crore. If the vends had remained unallotted, the government would have lost Rs 80 lakh per day after March 31.
However, after the vends were allotted, the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who received certain representations about the manner in which the vends were allotted, asked the department to re-advertise the vends. The applications were received only for 105 vends. Before the department could take action on these applications, the High Court asked it to maintain the status quo.
In its final order, the High Court asked the department to invite fresh applications for the 993 vends and make a fresh allotment before May 31. The court also ruled that if no applications were received for certain vends, these would continue to be run by the old allottees.
Messrs Vardayak Traders filed a special leave petition before the apex court, challenging the High Court order. On May 24, the apex court asked the department to maintain the status quo as far as the petitioner was concerned and fixed June 6 as the next date of hearing. The petitioner had been allotted 69 vends of country liquor and 12 of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) in Fatehabad and Sirsa districts.
Meanwhile, more allottees moved the Supreme Court against the High Court order. A former Union Law Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, appeared for the petitioners.
The apex court today stayed the operation of the High Court judgement and fixed June 6 as the next date of hearing.
