9911796707
TMI Blog2014 (10) TMI 719X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ri Ghat (Khatik Tola), District-Mau in the year 2009-10 under the U.P. Excise (Installment of Licenses for Retail Sale of Country Made Liquor) Rules, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules, 2002). According to the petitioner a raid was conducted at his shop on 26.03.2013 on a day when the shop was closed under the orders of the District Magistrate due to the Holi festival. The said raid is stated to have been conducted by the local police on the instructions of Deputy Commissioner, Excise, Azamgarh. During the raid 125 boxes of illegal liquor, 282 boxes of legal bottled liquor, 5 sacks containing 2,500 plastic bottles, 8,500 duplicate wrappers, about 10,000 lids, 805 duplicate Holograms, one bottle of Caromil liquid, one bottle of essen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dhumita Bose, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Sanjieva Shankhdhar, learned counsel for the respondent-Excise Department and perused the documents on record. The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the raid was conducted on the shop of the petitioner on a date on which it was closed under the orders of the District Magistrate for the Holi festival after breaking its locks in the absence of the owner as well as the approved salesman of the shop and thereafter the alleged consignment is stated to have been seized. Reference has been made to the provisions of Section 48 of the U.P. Excise Act and it is submitted that under Section 48 the Excise Commissioner, Collector, or any Officer of the Excise Department ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oned in the order of suspension of the license or in the impugned order by which the license of the shop has been cancelled or in the counter affidavit or short counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents. Therefore, it is submitted that the entire action taken against the petitioner by the respondents was in contravention of the statutory provisions of Section 48 of the Act, 1910 and therefore illegal and liable to be quashed. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submitted that even assuming without admitting that any material was seized from the premises in question it cannot be said that the same constitute any of the offences inviting penalty under Section 60 of the Act, 1910. Rebutting the submissions of the learned co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the District Magistrate cancelling the license of the petitioner and has directed that the license fee and the security money for the year 2013-14 which has been seized by the authorities could not have been seized. The license of Rs. 3,50,060/- for the year 2014 shall be refunded to the petitioner and the requisite bill for that purpose has already been submitted to the treasury office. So far as the security money is concerned, in paragraph 9 of the counter affidavit it has been stated that for the year 2012-2013 the petitioner had deposited security money amounting to Rs. 2.28,165/- but for the year 2013-14 the security money was enhanced to Rs. 2,80,048/- but the petitioner instead of depositing the said amount, sought adjustment of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... provisions of Section 48 of the Act, 1910 are mandatory and before conducting any raid in the retail shop of the petitioner reasons were required to be recorded by the said authorities. Reliance has been placed upon a decision of this Court in the case reported in 1987 EFR 743, Criminal Revision No.1801 of 1984 decided on 10.07.1987, Jagdish Kewat and another Vs. State of U.P. and Others, wherein a learned single judge of this Court interpreting the provisions of Section 53 of the Excise Act, 1910 has placed reliance upon a judgment of the Supreme Court reported in AIR 1979 SC 311, K.L. Subhayya Vs. State of Karnatka, wherein the Supreme Court was interpreting the provisions of Section 54 of the Mysore Excise Act, which was pari materia to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ny [Officer of the Excise Department] not below such rank as the [State Government] may prescribe, or any police officer duly empowered in that behalf, may enter and inspect, at any time by day or by night, any place in which any licensed manufacturer carries on the manufacture of or stores any [intoxicant] and may enter and inspect at any time within the hours during which sale is permitted, and at any other time during which the same may be open, any place in which any [intoxicant] is kept for sale by any licensed person, and may examine test, measure or weight any materials, stills, utensils, implements. Apparatus, or [intoxicant] found in such place; and may seize any measures, weight or testing instruments which has reason to believe t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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