Ramachandran Nair, J.

1. The appellant a licensee of 7 toddy shops in Kuzhalmandam Excise Range in Palakkad District from 2008- 09 onwards was booked by the Police for an abkari offence under Section 55(a) of the Abkari Act for transporting 30 litres of spirit which is equivalent to 75 litres of arrack in his Alto car along with four companions. The appellant and other accused are facing prosecution before the Assistant Sessions/Sessions Judge. Even though the offence was in the year 2009-10, on account of delay in getting chemical examination report of the spirit seized from the appellant's car, he was allowed to carry on business in the toddy shops retaining the licence. He managed to retain the licence and carry on the business until 2011-12 under orders obtained from this Court and also from the Excise Commissioner who allowed to continue the licence because of the delay in getting chemical examination report. However, when renewal of licence came for the year 2012-13 he was declined the preference available under Rule 5(1)(a) of the Kerala Abkari Shops Disposal Rules, 2002 because of his involvement in the criminal case charged against him. Writ Petition filed by him for preference for licence was turned down by the learned Single Judge, against which this Writ Appeal is filed.

2. On the merits, we do not find any case for the appellant because preference for licence for those who carried on business previously will not be available to those involved in abkari offence during the period they carried on business in the past. Appellant's is not a unique case because cases being booked by Police & Excise and those pending in Courts reveal that under the label "toddy" spurious liquor is extensively sold in toddy shops. We therefore felt that this is a fit case to ask the Government why this toddy business should be continued in the State which has hardly any toddy production only to defeat the prohibition of arrack introduced in the State 16 years back. We also thought something should be done to reduce Abkari Cases in the Courts in Kerala, the main source of which is toddy business. According to latest statistics as many as 20547 Abkari Cases are pending trial in various Sessions Courts, Fast Track Courts and Asst. Sessions Courts in the State. Quilon District occupies the first position with 6400 cases, while Trivandrum District has 5000 cases. In fact, trial in large number of Abkari Cases ends up in acquittals, on technicalities, witnesses under threat refusing to give evidence etc. and invariably in every case the last point seller who is a non-entity in the Abkari business is the accused and the kingpins controlling the business do not figure or they easily escape. Toddy tappers carrying toddy on their shoulders is a story of the past in Kerala villages. The next generation of toddy tappers without exception do not take up this traditional profession, and on account of non-availability of toddy tappers and consequent non-availability of toddy locally everywhere, Government permits sourcing and transport of toddy from far away places, mostly from Palakkad District bordering with Tamilnadu. It is common knowledge that there is no correlation between the actual quantity of toddy produced and available and the quantity required for sustaining thousands of toddy shops in the State. What can be implied is that artificially prepared spurious liquor with high alcohol content is sold in toddy shops, and in fact most cases booked are of this kind. Since Abkari Cases particularly those charged under Section 55(a) are triable only by Court of Sessions or Assistant Sessions Judge, theses cases sustain large number of Fast Track Courts in the State. What we notice from the report submitted by the Excise Commissioner is that the Government is not inclined to close down toddy shops located all over Kerala on road side to the great discomfort of the people. One explanation offered by the Commissioner in his report to justify to