The grant or refusal of Excise Licenses must be in accordance with the specific and non-exhaustive conditions provided in the Bengal Excise Act, 1909, and the West Bengal Excise (Selection of New Sites and Grant of License for Retail Sale of Liquor and Certain Other Intoxicants) Rules, 2003, and the State cannot rely on Police Reports and the pendency of cases against an individual to refuse the renewal of an Excise License unless the defence forms part of the relevant sections of the Act and Rules.

JUDGMENT

Moushumi Bhattacharya, J. - The petitioners are aggrieved by three orders dated 15th December, 2020, 3rd August, 2021 and 21st June, 2022 in the matter of rejection of the renewal of Excise Licenses of the petitioner no. 1. The first two orders are of the Excise Commissioner and the last order is of the Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department, Government of West Bengal.

2. The renewal of Excise License pertains to three restaurants-cum-bars namely, Spice Garden, located at VIP Road and Chinar Park and Hotel Down Town at Teghoria. All three establishments enjoyed Excise License from 2001 onwards. The petitioner applied for renewal in March 2017. The petitioners approached the Excise Commissioner for renewal of Excise License for the three establishments. The proceeding resulted in the first impugned order of 15th December, 2020 citing an objection received from the Bidhannagar Police thereby calling for a fresh report from the Commissioner of Police, Bidhannagar. The petitioner approached the Court by way of an earlier writ petition being WPO 201 of 2021 which was disposed of by a direction on the Excise Commissioner to dispose of the appeal under the provisions of The Bengal Excise Act, 1909, within a certain time frame.

3. The second impugned order of 3rd August, 2021 was passed by the Excise Commissioner whereby the petitioner's application for renewal of Excise License was rejected.

4. The third impugned order dated 21st June, 2022 deals with the question of renewal of the Excise License of all three establishments of the petitioners, namely, the two Spice Garden restaurants and Hotel Down Town.

5. The consistent finding of the Excise Commissioner and the Additional Chief Secretary is commission of offences under the Indian Penal Code and The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 in the concerned restaurants. The other finding is of one Jagjit Singh being involved with the affairs of the three establishments and pendency of cases against the said Jagjit Singh.

6. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submits that the pendency of judicial proceedings or Police Reports cannot form the basis of a rejection of an application for renewal of Excise License. Counsel relies on the provisions of The Bengal Excise Act, 1909 and The West Bengal Excise (Selection of New Sites and Grant of License for Retail Sale of Liquor and Certain Other Intoxicants) Rules, 2003 for this purpose. Counsel submits that the State cannot give preferential treatment to those on a similar footing to that of the petitioners.

7. The learned Government Pleader appearing for the State respondents relies on the Police Reports which were before the authorities at the time of rejection of renewal of the Excise Licenses. Counsel stresses on the immoral activities being carried on in the three restaurants of the petitioners and submits that this is a fit case for refusing renewal of license as there is a question of law and order. Counsel also places emphasis on the activities of Jagjit Singh in coercing girls into prostitution in the three premises. Counsel urges the Court to lift the corporate veil of the three establishments to ascertain the involvement of Jagjit Singh in the day to day affairs of the restaurants. It is further submitted that the petitioners' liquor license expired in 2017 and hence the petitioners would have to rely on the Rules which were in existence at the relevant point of time.

8. The question before the Court is whether the impugned orders, particularly the order dated 21st June, 2022 rejecting the petitioner's application for renewal of Excise Licenses on and from the year 2017-2018, were in consonance with the Act of 1909 and the relevant Rules framed thereunder. The State authorities rejected the application for renewal primarily on the ground of immoral activities taking place in the restaurants and the part played by Jagjit Singh, a relative of two of the directors of the establishments, in commission of criminal act