MLC polls: ‘Long ban on liquor sale against Article 21’, says Bombay HC; limits prohibition to election day – The Indian Express

Observing this, the bench directed that the prohibitory ban imposed on liquor sale in Thane, Palghar, Raigad and Nashik districts during elections for Maharashtra Legislative Council seats for graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies, shall be restricted to January 30, the election day, and all other days stand exempted.

A single-judge bench of Justice Milind N Jadhav was on January 25 hearing two pleas, one by All India Wine Producers Association (AIWPA) against the deputy secretary and assistant chief election officer of Maharashtra state challenging the January 5 order imposing a ban on liquor sale in Nashik district for the proposed election to be held on January 30 for the Nashik graduates’ constituency.

Another plea by the Association of Progressive Retail Liquor Vendors (APRLV) challenged the January 25 order by the collector and district magistrate, Raigad-Alibaug, dated January 25, 2023, that banned liquor sale from January 28 (4 pm) to January 31 (4 pm) for elections to be held in the graduates’ constituencies in Konkan division, that is, Thane, Palghar and Raigad.

Senior advocate Atul Damle and advocate Vivek V Salunke, for the AIWPA, along with advocates Suresh M Sabrad, Amey Sawant and Roshan Hule for APRLV submitted that the election is held for the graduates’ constituencies and the voters’ list was very restrictive and only contained graduates who had registered for voting. Therefore, imposing the prohibitory ban for four days would adversely affect the livelihood and business of the petitioners, the lawyers submitted.

The pleas also referred to several earlier orders passed by the high court in earlier proceedings wherein similar orders were passed by authorities and they were curtailed and restricted only to the date of voting.

Additional Government Pleader P G Sawant submitted that in all four constituencies, including Nashik, Thane, Palghar and Raigad, the date of voting is scheduled on January 30. Sawant, on instructions and based on the January 23 letter issued by State Chief Election Officer, stated that initially in so far as the Nashik constituency was concerned, they had proposed to impose
prohibition for four days, but the authorities restricted the same to three days and exempted the date of counting.

Justice Jadhav perused past orders of the high court and noted that time and again the courts were constrained to pass orders against the authorities. “I am of the view that the interest of justice would be served if the prohibition imposed by the respondents is restricted to only the date of voting, that is January 30,” the judge observed.

Noting that imposing a ban for a longer period would curtail the fundamental rights of the petitioners, the bench observed, “The aforementioned issue is a recurring issue and therefore, the State Government is directed to take note of the same… The present elections are not Parliamentary elections and the yardstick applicable to those elections cannot be applied to elections for graduate constituencies.”

Granting relief to the petitioner associations, the bench directed the respondent authorities to file their substantive affidavits in reply to the pleas within four weeks and posted further hearing to February 22.

Last year, the high court had allowed hotels and liquor stores in the Andheri (East) Assembly constituency to sell liquor after the declaration of results or by 6 pm, whichever is earlier on the counting day (November 6, 2022) of the bypolls.