Mrs. Sujata V. Manohar, J. - (1.) The State of Bihar is petitioner No. 1 before us. Under the Bihar Excise Act, 1915, Section 22 provides that the State Government may grant to any person, on such conditions and for such period as it may think fit the exclusive privilege, inter alia, of manufacturing and supplying wholesale any country liquor within any specified local area. Under sub-section (2) no grantee of any privilege under sub-section (1) shall exercise the same unless and until he has received a licence in that behalf from the Collector or the Excise Commissioner. Under Section 29 instead of or in addition to any duty leviable under this Act, the State Government may accept payment of a sum of consideration for the grant of any exclusive privilege under Section 22. Section 43 which deals with the power to withdraw licences provides in sub-section (5) as follows:"43(5):For the purpose of calculating the amount due to the State Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . .the amount of fee payable on account of the licence for the period during which it was in force shall be taken to be the sum bearing the same proportion to the total fee for the whole period for which the licence was settled as the period during which the licence was actually in force bears to the full period for which the licence was settled."
(2.) For the purpose of grant of exclusive privilege for wholesale manufacture and supply of country liquor, the State of Bihar has been divided into nine zones. The Board of Revenue invites tenders for the grant of the privilege of manufacture and wholesale supply of country liquor in sachets/bottles for each zone. Prior to 1995 the exclusive privilege was granted pursuant to the tenders received only to one supplier per zone. However, for the period 1st of July, 1995 to 31st of March, 1999, a notice inviting tenders was published in the Bihar Gazette on 3rd of June, 1995 in which it was stated in Clause 3(c) that in one zone more than one contractor may be granted the privilege of setting up sacheting plant and supplying of country liquor in sachets/bottles in the districts falling within the zone. Pursuant to the tenders which were invited petitioner No. 1-State has granted this exclusive privilege to more than one contractor in each of the zones. The dispute relates to the licence fee which is payable by each of the contractors within one zone. The respondents are some of these contractors.
(3.) It is common ground that for the purpose of determining the minimum licence fee payable in respect of each zone, the State arrived at the figures of gross sale of country liquor in each zone during the previous financial year 1994-95. The annual licence fee for the subsequent financial year is determined at the rate of Re. 1/- per L.P. litre of liquor supplied in the previous financial year. Schedule 1 to the tender notice gives the name of the zone, the consumption of country spirit in 1994-95 and other particulars. For example, in zone 1, that is to say Patna Zone, consumption of country spirit in 1994-95 was 31.66 lacs of L.P. litres. The licence fee for Patna zone for 1995-96 is accordingly worked out at Rs. 31.66 lacs. In zone 2, Gaya Zone, the consumption of country spirit in 1994-95 is 23.29 lacs L.P. litres. The licence fee for Gaya Zone is accordingly worked out at the rate of Re. 1/- per L.P. litre.;