The High Court has once again made it clear that the ban on sale of liquor is limited to polling time and constituencies. Also, the order issued by Raigad District Collector has been amended in this regard.
Raigad and Maval are the only two Lok Sabha constituencies in Raigad district and polling for both will be held on May 7 and 13 respectively. In view of this, the law can restrict the sale of liquor in both the constituencies only 48 hours before polling and till the end of polling. A bench of Justice AS Chandurkar and Justice Jitendra Jain also clarified that the Collector cannot apply this condition for the entire district as polling will be held on different days in the two constituencies.
The bench passed the above order while deciding the petition of Navi Mumbai Hotel Owners Association challenging the order of Raigad District Collector. Maval Lok Sabha Constituency consists of Panvel, Karjat and Uran Assembly Constituencies while Raigad Lok Sabha Constituency consists of Pen, Alibaug, Shrivardhan and Mahad Assembly Constituencies. But, bypassing the relevant section of the Representation of the People Act, the District Collector of Raigad has issued an order banning the sale of liquor in the entire district during the polling period. A copy of the order passed by the Aurangabad bench was given by the petitioners while seeking revision of the order.
On the other hand, as per Section 142 of the Representation of the People Act, the District Collector has the right to ban the sale of liquor and cannot be interfered with, argued the government counsel while opposing the plea of the petitioners. However, as per the law, the prohibition order is limited to the polling area only and cannot be applied beyond that.
Therefore, the court while giving relief to the petitioners stated that although the District Collector has the right to enforce the liquor ban order, there are limits to this right in the background of the Lok Sabha elections. Moreover, the court also pointed out the Aurangabad Bench order that the liquor ban order is limited to the polling period only and cannot be enforced thereafter.
Also, the Raigad District Collector amended the Liquor Sale Order which was implemented for the entire Raigad district. According to the court's revised order, the District Collector's order for Raigad Lok Sabha Constituency will be valid from 5:00 pm on May 4 till the completion of polling on May 7. After that, the order will come back into effect on June 4 and will remain in place till the results are announced.
Liquor ban order for Maval Lok Sabha Constituency will come into effect on May 11 at 5:00 pm and will remain in effect till the end of polling on May 13. After that, the order will come back into effect on June 4 and will remain in place till the results are announced.
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