Liquor Ban For A Long Period Violates Merchants' Right To Livelihood: Bombay High Court Limits Prohibition To MLC Polls Voting Day

The Bombay High Court reduced the four-day ban on liquor sale in Thane, Palghar, Raigad and Nashik districts due to Maharashtra Legislative Council graduate constituencies elections to just the day of voting observing that a longer ban would violate the merchants' right to livelihood under Article 21 of the Constitution.

“Imposing a prohibitory ban for long period on merchant establishments and establishments which provide livelihood is contrary to the enshrined principles under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and whenever such thing happens, the Authorities need to be thoughtful”, the court stated.

Justice Milind Jadhav directed that the ban be restricted to only January 30, 2023, i.e., the day of voting. The court was hearing two writ petitions challenging orders prohibiting sale of liquor for four days from January 28 to January 31 in view of the elections to graduate constituencies.

The court added, “The present elections are not Parliamentary elections and the yardstick applicable to those elections cannot be ipse dixit applied to elections for Graduate constituencies”.

Senior Advocate Atul Damle and advocate Suresh Sabrad submitted that the voter list is restrictive and only contains graduates who registered for voting. Imposing ban for four days will adversely affect the livelihood and business of the petitioners, it was argued.

AGP P. G. Sawant submitted that in Nashik constituency, the Chief Election Officer, Maharashtra has imposed the ban for three days instead of the proposed four.

The court directed the state government to take note of this issue as it is a recurring one and courts often have to pass orders in similar petitions. Interest of justice would be served if ban is restricted to only the day of voting, the court opined.

The court also directed the respondents to file their replies within four weeks and posted the matter for February 23, 2023.

Case no. – Writ Petition (ST) Nos. 2457 and 2684 of 2023

Case Title – All India Wine Producers Association v. Deputy Secretary and Assistant Chief Election Officer, Maharashtra State & Ors. with one connected matter

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 58