Gujarat High Court Dismisses PIL Filed By Daman Wine Merchant Association Seeking To Ban Coercive Measures Against Wine Shop Owners By Police

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee observed, “We fail to understand as to why the Wine Shop owners, who are not doing any business in the State of Gujarat would be implicated for selling liquor and the cases under the Gujarat prohibition Act, 1949, would be registered against them. For the above, as also for the fact that the present petition in the nature of PIL has been filed in the name of an Association, whose legal status has not been disclosed in the writ petition, we dismiss the writ petition being misconceived.”

The Court noted that the Association - Daman Wine Merchant Association, had not stated whether it was a registered body nor was a copy of the registration placed on record. It was held that the plea was entirely misconceived and even the legal status of the organisation had not been revealed in the plea.

The plea sought a blanket ban restraining the respondent authority from taking any coercive measure against the Wine Shop owners (license holders of Daman), who were implicated in cases under the Gujarat Prohibition Act, 1949. The assertion in the writ petition was that by implication, the Wine Shop owners, who are running shops located in the Union Territory of Daman were being harassed by the police authorities in the State of Gujarat.

Appearance:
Mr. Dhruvin U Mehta(9993) For The Applicant(S) No. 1
Mr Krutik Parikh, Agp For The Opponent(S) No. 1,2,3,4,5,6

Case Title: Daman Wine Merchant Association Through President Versus The State Of Gujarat & Ors

Case No.: R/Writ Petition (Pil) (Writ Petition (Pil)) No. 23 Of 2024

LL Citation: 2024 Livelaw (Guj) 35

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