On Tuesday, the Gujarat High Court rejected a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a group of liquor merchants based in the Union territory of Daman. The petition sought the court's intervention to halt the Gujarat police's enforcement actions against them under Gujarat's prohibition laws when the liquor they sell is seized within Gujarat's borders.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee observed,

''We fail to understand as to why the Wine Shop owners, who are not doing any business in the State of Gujarat would be implicated for selling liquor and the cases under the Gujarat prohibition Act, 1949, would be registered against them. For the above, as also for the fact that the present petition in the nature of PIL has been filed in the name of an Association, whose legal status has not been disclosed in the writ petition, we dismiss the writ petition being misconceived.”

The Court noted that the Association - Daman Wine Merchant Association, had not stated whether it was a registered body nor was a copy of the registration placed on record. It was held that the plea was entirely misconceived and even the legal status of the organisation had not been revealed in the plea.

The petition requested a comprehensive prohibition on the respondent authority's enforcement actions against Wine Shop owners (licensed establishments in Daman) implicated under the Gujarat Prohibition Act, 1949. The petition argued that these Wine Shop owners, operating within the Union Territory of Daman, were facing harassment from police authorities in Gujarat by extension of the law.

Case Title: Daman Wine Merchant Association Through President Versus The State Of Gujarat & Ors

Case No.: R/Writ Petition (Pil) (Writ Petition (Pil)) No. 23 Of 2024