JUDGMENT

B.P. JEEVAN REDDY, J.- Leave granted.

2. This batch of civil appeals is directed against the judgment and orders of Rajasthan High Court in certain batches of special appeals. The point that arose in all the writ petitions (from which the special appeals arose) filed in the Rajasthan High Court was common viz., whether the short-lifting of liquor on the part of the writ petitioners/licensees during the year 1967-68 was on account of the default on their part or on account of the inability of the State to supply the requisite quantities of liquor. The writ petitions were disposed of in batches by learned Single Judges on different occasions against whose orders special appeals were filed by the aggrieved parties i.e., by the State in some cases and by the licensees in others.

3. The retail sale of country liquor in the State of Rajasthan is regulated by the provisions of Rajasthan Excise Act, 1950. Like every other excise Act, the Rajasthan Act also says that no person shall sell or other-wise deal in excisable articles including country liquor except in accordance with the terms and conditions of a licence granted in that behalf and the provisions of the Act and the rules ma