Shivdayal, J.

By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the Petitioner seeks a writ of mandamus directing the State of Madhya Pradesh and the Excise authorities and the Collector, Gwalior, not to enforce the notice of demand (Annexure 2) issued by the Collector.

In an auction of country liquor shops the Petitioner being the highest bidder, got a group of five shops situate at Gwalior for the period 1969-70 (from April 1, 1969 to March 31, 1970). One of the terms of the sale memo was that the contractor would have to lift a prescribed minimum quantity of liquor and pay duty or consolidated duty at the prevalent rate, otherwise he would have to pay duty on the quantity short of the minimum prescribed. In accordance with this condition the District Excise Officer, Gwalior, issued a notice of demand for Rs. 2,90,502.76 P. as arrears of land revenue and threatened to recover the amount as such. The Petitioner challenges this notice of demand and contends that the demand is not authorised by law.

The Petitioner's contention is that the demand notice is ultra vires because duty on liquor not lifted by the contractor is not authorised by law.

An excise licensee has t