Hon’ble Yatindra Singh, J.—The main question involved in these writ petitions (WPs) is,

‘Whether a person—successful in the lottery for allotment of the country made liquor shop and who operates the shop for the entire excise year—is required to pay the licence fee at the minimum guarantee quantity (MGQ), even if no licence was issued to him, due to his failure to deposit the security amount within time.’

THE FACTS

2. These writ petitions are against the recovery of licence fee on the MGQ for the country made liquor shops situate at,

(i) Ondeh and Malik Mau Aima District-Raiberilly in WP(Tax) 1429 of 2006 (the first WP);

(ii) Suthatti, District-Jaunpur in WP(Tax) 385 of 2007 (the second WP);

(iii) Bhora Bazar, District-Jaunpur in WP(Tax) 386 of 2007 (the third WP).

3. The recovery relates to the following excise years:

Excise year 2002-03 (the first WP);

Excise year 2003-2004 (the second WP and the third WP).

4. In the aforesaid excise years, the licence for country made liquor shop was to be allotted by the lottery system in accordance with UP Excise (Settlement of Licences for Retail Sale of Country Liquor) Rules, 2002 (the Rules) framed under the UP Excise Act, 1910 (the Act).

5. F