1. In response to an advertisement dated November 24, 2004 inviting applications for grant of foreign liquor off shop licence, inter alia, within the local limits of Burdwan Municipality, the petitioner had offered his candidature vide application dated December 14, 2004. It was accompanied by the requisite fees of Rs.12,000/-. The petitioner’s application having been found to be in order, he was called upon to participate in a lottery along with other eligible candidates. Fortune smiled on the petitioner at the draw of lots. He was selected for grant of licence and called upon to indicate the site of the proposed ‘off shop’. Two sites were indicated by him. Enquiry was conducted in respect of the first site by the Deputy Excise Collector, Sadar Range, Burdwan East Area, Burdwan. In his report dated September 27, 2005, the enquiry officer observed that the proposed site was free from any restriction under Rule 8 of the West Bengal Excise (Selection of New Sites and Grant of License for Retail Sale of Liquor and Certain Other Intoxicants) Rules, 2003 (hereafter the ‘New Sites Rules’). The District Magistrate and Collector, Burdwan (hereafter the Collector), being the licen