The Bombay High Court has held that district collectors have powers to issue orders directing shutting of liquor shops in a region for a specific period of time, for example during elections, to maintain law and order situation. The court has, however, clarified that such closure order cannot be general and has to be specific to each licence holder and must be given in writing.
The ruling was given by a three-judge bench after conflicting views were expressed by two division benches on whether district collectors have powers to issue blanket closure orders to multiple liquor shops.
In April, three shops approached the HC challenging the orders issued by the Pune district collector to keep their establishments shut on April 14, 2024, on account of Ambedkar Jayanti. These shops pointed out a judgment passed by the Aurangabad bench of the HC which held that the collector can only issue orders to individual licensees to close their shops under section 142 of the Maharashtra Prohibition Act, 1949. Moreover, it said that the collector cannot pass a blanket order for the district.
However, the high court bench here opined that the provisions of the Maharashtra Prohibition Act confers powers on the collector to issue such orders in public interest. Such power is required to be interpreted broadly and should not be confined to closing only one shop, the division bench felt.
Since the division bench expressed contrary view to the judgment passed by the Aurangabad bench, the matter was referred to a full bench comprising Justices AS Chandurkar, Gauri Godse and Rajesh Patil.
The full bench said that on a plain reading of the Maharashtra Prohibition Act, there appeared to be no restrictions on issuing closure orders to multiple licence holders simultaneously. The relevant provision requires the collector to form an opinion that keeping liquor shops closed was necessary in the interest of public peace, the bench said. If the collector forms such an opinion, then they are empowered to direct more than one licence holder when it comes to the sale of intoxicants or hemp, the bench said.
“The collector is empowered to issue directions to more than one person, but the requirement is to form an opinion that such closure is in the interest of public peace, and the order has to be in writing to the persons holding licences for the sale of intoxicants or hemp to close the place where the intoxicant or hemp is sold,” the full bench said. However, it indeed: “the directions have to be specific to the license holders and not a general direction”.
