L.NAGESWARA RAO,J. - (1.) Leave granted. The Appellant is a manufacturer of spirits and holds a licence in the form of D-1 granted in the year 2017. A tender notice was issued for supply of country spirit in sealed bottles, in the State of Madhya Pradesh for the year 2018-2019. The condition imposed for participating in the tender was that the tenderer must have a licence for manufacturing, bottling and wholesale supply of country spirit in the State of Madhya Pradesh, issued in the form of CS-1 licence. Clause 2(i) of the tender notice dated 03.02.2018 was challenged by the Appellant on the ground that the stipulation pertaining to possession of CS-1 licence was contrary to Rule 3 of the Madhya Pradesh Country Spirit Rules, 1995 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules') since such licence could not be granted unless the distiller has participated in the tender process. That according to Rule 3, a successful tenderer is granted an area for supply of country spirit which would enable him to claim a CS-1 licence and CS-1-1B licence. The Writ Petition filed by the Appellant was dismissed. However, the High Court observed that the contention of the Appellant that he could not be granted a licence under the Rules unless an area was allotted to him was not borne out from Section 18 of the Excise Act, 1915 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act) or the Rules.
(2.) Thereafter, the Appellant submitted an application for grant of CS-1 licence on 09.04.2018. By an order dated 26.07.2018, the application filed by the Appellant for grant of CS-1 licence was rejected. Aggrieved by the said rejection, the Appellant filed a Writ Petition which was dismissed by the High Court. Hence, this appeal.
(3.) The order by which the request for issuance of CS-1 licence was rejected by the Respondent No. 2 was challenged by the Appellant as being in violation of Articles 14 and 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution of India. The Appellant alleged discrimination since eight other distillers in the State of Madhya Pradesh who were similarly situated to the Appellant, not possessing CS-1 and CS-1-1B licence were allowed to participate in the tender process. The Appellant relied upon the observations of the High Court in its judgment dated 21.03.2018, in Writ Petition No. 6525 of 2018 filed by the Appellant, that neither the Act nor the Rules made thereunder required allotment of an area for grant of CS-1 licence.;