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1975 (12) TMI 160 - SC - Central ExciseWhether the High Court erred in holding that the State Government had the power to require the appellants to pay the amounts under demand as they represented consideration for the contracts Reduction of the licence fees for the liquor shops Whether the refund of fees claimed by the appellant was permissible on the ground that there was no quid pro quo for the same? Held that:- It is well settled that as the State has the exclusive right and privilege of manufacturing and selling liquor, it has the power to hold a public auction for the grant of such a right or privilege and to accept the payment of a sum therefor. It was therefore permissible for the State to frame rules for the grant of licences on payment of fees fixed by auction, for that was only a mode or medium for ascertaining the best price for the grant of the exclusive privilege of manufacturing and selling liquor. It would appear that there is nothing in the note to justify the argument that it gave rise to a right in favour of the appellants to obtain a reduction of the fees. As has been pointed out, that was clearly a matter within the discretion of the Board of Revenue under section 39, and the wordings of the note appended to paragraph 130 could not overreach that provision of the law. Moreover, the question whether the circumstances mentioned in the note were at all in existence in the case of the appeals under consideration, was a question of fact which could not be tried in these proceedings. The High Court has rightly rejected that contention for the reason that the amounts in question were payable for the licences which had been granted for the exclusive privilege in question and, as has been shown, that argument is no longer available to the appellant in view of this Court's decisions in Nashirwar's case (1974 (11) TMI 91 - SUPREME COURT) and Har Shankar's case (1975 (1) TMI 89 - SUPREME COURT). Appeals dismissed.
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