Judgment

BEG, J. - Civil Appeal No. 1381 of 1974 has come before us after grant of a certificate of fitness of the case for appeal by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana under Art. 133 (1) (a) of the Constitution on 2nd February, 1973. The Writ Petition before the High Court (C. W. No. 442 of 1970) was one out of a batch of petitions all of which except this one were dismissed. The only ground on which this particular petition seems to have been allowed was that the demand for the balance of the liquor vend fee, held to be due, was considered to have been waived or the default condoned by the Excise Department. The High Court, however, held that it was unable to agree with the contention of the learned counsel for the respondent that "if the Department either deliberately or by mistake or negligence forces the fulfilment of any particular condition of the licence, it thereby debars itself from proceeding against a licensee for contravention of any other condition of the license or contravention of any of the 1956 rules. We find it difficult to discover the ground on which the order of cancellation of licence of the petitioner in Writ Petn. No. 442 of 1970 was set aside after distingu