WPMS/1526/2021
2021 Latest Caselaw 2868 UK

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                                      WPMS No.1526 of 2021
                                      Hon'ble Sharad Kumar Sharma, J.

(Through Hybrid Mode)

Mr. Sanpreet Singh Ajmani, Advocate for the petitioners.

Mr. V.D. Bisen, Brief Holder for the State of Uttarakhand.

The petitioners were allotted with a liquor shop at Kiccha Railway Station, his allotment was renewed and extended for the period w.e.f 01.04.2020 to 31.03.2021.

The respondents have issued a demand notice date 03.04.2021, thereby raising a demand of Rs.44,29,079/-allegedly due to be payable by the petitioner under the terms of the allotment.

The State of Uttarakhand while exercising its powers under Section 40 of the Excise Act, had framed an Excise Policy for the year 2020-2021. As a consequence of the promulgation of the Excise Police, the Excise Policy in its Clause 35, has provided that in an eventuality, because of any untoward act because of any such situation, where the allottee is unable to deposit the excise dues payable by him, as a consequence of the allotment of the liquor shop, which in the instant case happens to be English Foreign Liquor Shop situated at Kiccha Railway Station, District Udham Singh Nagar and the petitioner despite of the renewal of his allotment made in his favour for the period from 01.04.2020 to 31.03.2021, has not been able to deposit the amount to the tune of Rs.44,29,079/- the recovery proceedings have been initiated against him.

But the sole contention, which has been raised by the petitioner is that, since he was restrained from depositing the amount due under the allotment conditions; on account of the pandemic situation and for the reasons beyond his control, hence, he submits that under the policy itself in its Clause 35, which is extracted hereunder:-

"35&foRrh; o"kZ ds e/; esa vkcdkjh vuqKkiuksa ds lapkyu esa ;fn dksbZ leL;k vkrh gS] ftldh O;oLFkk foRrh; o"kZ esa iz[;kfir fu;keyh esa u nh x;h gks] rks dk;Z ds lqpk: :i ls lEiknu gsrq eq[; lfpo mRrjk[kaM 'kklu dh v/;{krk esa ,d lfefr dk xBu fd;k tkrk gSA ftlesa izeq[k [email protected] foRr] izeq[k [email protected] U;k; ,oa vkcdkjh vk;qDr lnL; rFkk izeq[k [email protected] vkcdkjh lnL; lfpo gksaxsA mDr lfefr }kjk dh x;h laLrqfr ij vfUre fu.kZ; gsrq izdj.k ek0 vkcdkjh ea=h th ds ek/;e ls ek0 eq[;ea=h th dks izLrqr fd;k tk;sxkA^^

The aforesaid Clause 35, deals with the situation, that whenever such type of contingency chances where the allottee is not in a position to remit the excise dues payable by him under the terms of the allotment, the allottee can approach the committee as constituted under Clause 35 for the policy for redressal of the grievance.

An identical issue came up for consideration before this Court, in a bunch of writ petitions, where almost under the same facts and circumstances of the case, whereby this Court with the leading Writ Petition No.1040 of 2021, Prem Singh vs. State of Uttarakhand and others disposed of this writ petition with the following observations:-

"4. The policy in its clause 35 has dealt with the contingent situation, that whenever there is a such type of contingencies, that on account of any force majeure, the petitioner is not able to remit the revenue, as was payable against the licence allotted in his favour, the remedy would be to approach before the Committee, as it has been constituted under Clause 35 of the policy, which has a statutory force as being framed under Section 40 of the Excise Act, 1910.

5. In that eventuality, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the matter, these writ petitions are disposed of with a direction to the petitioners to approach the Committee, as constituted under Clause 35 of the Policy as framed under Section 40 of the Excise Act, 1910, and if it does so within a period of three weeks' from the date of production of a certified copy of this judgment, their grievances would be adjudicated by the Committee within a period of two months thereafter.

6. Subject to the above, the writ petition stands disposed of."

In view of the aforesaid conditions, this writ petition too would stand disposed of under the same terms and conditions as given in the judgment dated 08.06.2021.

(Sharad Kumar Sharma, J.) 05.08.2021 Arti