This Writ Petition is filed for a Mandamus to declare the action of the respondents in permitting establishment of a retail A-4 liquor shop without reference to the existence of a mosque within the prohibited distance of 100 meters as illegal and arbitrary.

At the hearing, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Prohibition and Excise, on instructions, submitted that the purported mosque is not a registered one and that, therefore, the prohibition contained in Rule-25 of the Andhra Pradesh Excise (Grant of License of selling by Shop and Conditions of License) Rules, 2012 (for short ‘the Rules’), has no application.

Rule-25(1) of the Rules postulates location of the liquor shops at least 100 meters away from the places specified therein, including the places of public worship. Sub-clause (a) of explanation to Rule-25(1) of the Rules defines places of public worship as “a temple registered with the Endowment Department, Mosque registered with Wakf Board and Church and includes such other religious institutions, as the State Government may by order specify in this behalf.:

Sri D. Kasim Saheb, the learned counsel for the petitioner, while accepting the submission of the