JUDGMENT

Meenakshi I. Mehta, J. - By way of this petition, the petitioner-firm has sought the indulgence of this Court for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to treat it (petitioner) at par with the other licensees who have been allowed to surrender their licenses without any cost or risk and to allow it to surrender its license for the Excise Zones ZAMB03, ZAMB05 and ZAMB08. A further prayer for directing the respondents not to charge the license fee beyond the quota lifted by the petitioner, in view of the low sale volumes and its claim for surrender of the above-said licenses, has also been made.

2. Bereft of unnecessary details, the averments as put-forth by the petitioner in this petition, are that it is a proprietorship firm owned by Mr. Vijay Garg. After issuing the Excise Policy for the year 2020-21, the respondents issued public notice for inviting the e-tenders for allotment of the licenses for the zones of retail vends of country liquor and IMFL for the said year in the State of Haryana. It (petitioner) deposited a sum of Rs.3.05 crore as earnest money and another sum of Rs.14 lac as participation fee in the corpus created in compliance