Punjab Illegal Liquor Trade: SC Slams State For Inaction, Says, "Common People & Not The Ones Who Can Afford Good Whiskey Are Real Sufferers"

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing on behalf of the petitioner, alleged the involvement and patronage of the district police officials, the administration, and the local political leaders in the promotion of the illicit liquor trade. He urged, "This kind of large-scale illicit liquor trade cannot go on without the connivance of the police and the politicians." Expressing his dissatisfaction with the investigation directed by the state government, he informed the Bench, "No police officer, no politician, no owner of the distilleries has been charge-sheeted or arrested. They have said in the affidavit that no politician is involved."

The Bench was informed that the Department of Excise, in coordination with the police, had carried out "massive enforcement drives" resulting in the busting of various modules relating to illegal extraction and manufacturing of the ingredients of liquor, illegal bottling of liquor, manufacturing of illicit liquor, and other illegal activities of the trade. The state government has further claimed that first information reports have been registered in all these cases, which have been investigated or are being investigated by the police. In the additional affidavit filed by the Undersecretary to the Government of Punjab, Department of Excise and Taxation, some of the steps taken against the distilleries, bottling plants, or breweries between 2020 and 2021 were pointed out. A status report on the 13 FIRs filed by the police was also placed before the court. Out of the 13 FIRs, challans were issued only in three, while the remaining ten were still languishing in the investigation stage.

Bhushan also pointed out that no criminal proceedings were initiated against the owner of the illegal distilleries that had been destroyed. "Only petty people, the labourers working in these factories, are being arrested and charge-sheeted," he claimed.

Justice Sundresh reproached the state government, saying, "What is the point in issuing challan and imposing penalties in a case involving illicit manufacture of liquor? You are treating it as a violation of the license conditions. You are imposing penalty, issuing challan. Then, you are finding some employee…"

The counsel also drew the court's attention to a short reply by way of an affidavit by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Litigations of the state Bureau of Investigation. In his affidavit, Singh disclosed that in the period between 2019 and May 31, 2021, a total of 34,767 criminal cases had been registered under the Punjab Excise Act, 1914, and that a total of 1,270 illegal units, manufacturing illicit liquor, were "unearthed and destroyed" Bhushan asked, "The question is, if they have destroyed these units, have any of these owners been arrested?" He contended, "No particulars of the FIRs, against whom the FIRs are filed, against whom the challans are filed have been revealed." This, the Bench found, was suggestive of "the lack of periodical inspection and supervision" by the concerned police officers and the Excise Department.

The Bench directed the Undersecretary to the Government of Punjab, Department of Excise and Taxation to file a detailed counter on the following issues:

i. Whether the owners of distilleries, bottling plants, or breweries whose licenses were reported to have been cancelled or on whom penalties or duties were levied, have been prosecuted for offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 or other offences?

ii. Whether the penalties or duties levied have been recovered?

iii. In the three cases, where the challans were reported to have been filed –

1. Who were the challans filed against?
2. The allegations in the FIRs
3. For what offences were the challans filed?

iv. In the remaining cases, the particulars of each FIR –

1. Who were the FIRs filed against?
2. For what offences were the FIRs filed?
3. What is the stage of the investigation?
4. Who has been arrested in connection with the FIRs?

The problem of the illicit liquor trade in Punjab is a longstanding issue, with hundreds of people losing their lives by drinking spurious liquor. In September 2020, two Congress leaders of Punjab, Pratap Singh Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo, broke ranks and attacked their own party for being hand-in-glove with the state's "liquor mafia" in a letter addressed to Governor V.P. Singh Badnore. In the letter, the legislators alleged a failure of the state's administrative machinery and demanded compensation for the victims.

Case Title

Tarsem Jodhan & Anr. v. State of Punjab & Ors. [SLP (C) No. 3764/2021]