Apex court vacates stay, liquor vends in Chandigarh to open today

The Supreme Court has paved the way for opening of liquor vends in the city from tomorrow.

On March 26, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had issued a notice of motion to the Chandigarh Administration for April 3 while ordering the maintenance of status quo on three petitions challenging the tendering process for liquor vends. The HC had ordered that vends allotted under the previous Excise Policy will not operate beyond March 31, while the new ones allotted through a tendering process will not start operations till April 3 – the next date of hearing in the case.

Disposing of a petition filed by the Chandigarh Administration, the apex court vacated the stay on the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The Supreme Court granted two-week period to the Chandigarh Administration and Kler Wines and others to complete the ‘pleadings’, and directed the High Court to take up the matter for final disposal on the next day of the completion of ‘pleadings’.

The Chandigarh liquor vend tendering process for 2025-26 came under judicial scrutiny after a contractor alleged cartelisation and non-compliance with the Excise Policy. One of the petitions in the HC contended that the tendering results revealed that 87 out of 97 vends had been allocated to just two or three individuals operating under different firm names or through their relatives, associates, and employees.

Challenging the notice inviting tender dated March 13, M/s Kler Wines and another petitioner had argued that the entire process had been conducted in contravention of prescribed rules.