Uttarakhand HC okays licence renewal for 6 liquor vends in Rishikesh

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand high court , while hearing three petitions against non-renewal of licences of six liquor vends in Rishikesh on the ground that these are located near "holy places", said: "It is an irony that only a particular place is called a 'holy place' when the entire state is called Dev Bhoomi."

HC reprimanded the excise commissioner and said, "Prima facie, there is negligence and abuse of power." It then directed him to deposit Rs 5 lakh in each case (total Rs 15 lakh) in court within a week.

"If the court concludes that the action of the excise commissioner is wholly arbitrary, the amount would be paid to the petitioners," the HC said and directed the commissioner to "forthwith" process the applications for renewal of licences. Counsel for the petitioners - Siddhant Bailwal, Tejendra Singh and Pawan Kumar - during an earlier hearing had contended that licences of bars, restaurants, resorts and other retail vendors were renewed, but only his clients' licences were not.

The division bench of Chief Justice G Narendar and Justice Alok Mahra while hearing the matter on April 5 noted: "The paradox in the approach is that if six shops are permitted to vend liquor, it would affect the sanctity of the holy town, but serving liquor in bars and restaurants would not affect the sanctity of the holy town. There cannot be anything more paradoxical and ironical than this."