R.L.Gulati, J. - (1.) This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. The petitioners are four in number. Petitioner Nos. 1 to 3 are licensed vendor of foreign liquor at Allahabad, Firozabad and Lucknow respectively. Petitioner No. 4 is the U.P. Foreign Liquor Merchants Association, a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, having its head office at Kanpur. The connected petitions are also of licensed vendors of foreign liquor of different places in the State of Uttar Pradesh. They all raise common questions and shall be disposed of by this common judgment. In some of the petitions, some additional points have been raised which we shall deal separately.
(2.) We shall state briefly the facts relating to petitioner No. 1. The petitioner is engaged since long in the business of sale of foreign liquor under a licence in form F.L. 5 issued under the provisions of the U.P. Excise Act, 1910 (hereinafter called as the Excise Act) . It may be stated here, that a 'foreign liquor' means beers, spirit, wines and liquors imported into and manufactured in India but sophisticated and coloured so as to resemble in flavour or colour to liquors imported into India (U.P. Excise Manual Vol. I, Part II, Paragraph 12). The licence in form F.L. 5 permits the licensee to sell foreign liquor for consumption 'off the premises'. For the grant of such a licence, the licensee has to pay licence fee which is charged according to what is known as 'surcharge system'. The method of calculating the fee under the surcharge system is detailed in paragraphs 653 to 656 of the U.P. Excise Manual. According to these rules a prospective licensee has to pay by way of licence fee an amount calculated on the sale of foreign liquor in the immediately preceding year. The licence is valid for one excise year, which is a period of twelve months from April 1 to March 31. At the end of the excise year the licence fee is recalculated on the basis of the actual sale of foreign liquor in that year. Normally the licence is renewed from year to year, if the licensee is not in arrears, as provided in paragraph 656 of the Excise Manual.
(3.) In respect of country liquor the licenses for its retail sale are settled by auction so that the licence is granted to a person who gives the highest bid. This system brings in much more revenue than the surcharge system applicable to foreign liquors. For some time past the State has been considering the advisability of changing over to the auction system in respect of foreign liquors also. The Finance Minister in his budget speech delivered in March, 1972 stated that the auction of foreign liquor shops would bring in an additional revenue of Rs. 50 lacs. The Government, therefore, decided to switch over to the auction system and. accordingly issued instructions to the excise authorities not to renew the licences for the current year for the sale of foreign liquor in form F.L. 4 and F.L. 5 for more than three months pending the finalisation of the necessary legislation. It was for this reason that the petitioner's licence was renewed upto June 30, 1972, although the petitioner had applied for its renewal for 4th whole year. The licence was later on extended to July 31, 1972 and again upto August 31, 1972. The Governor of Uttar Pradesh promulgated an Ordinance published in the U.P. Gazette, Extraordinary dated June 30, 1972 and the Excise Commissioner issued three notifications amending certain rules. The combined effect of the Ordinance and the notifications is that the licence fee for the renewal and grant of licences in form F.L. 4 and F.L. 5 shall be determined by auction. This was followed by a notification by the State Government fixing different dates for different towns for the grant of licences in forms F.L. 4 and F.L. 5. It may be stated here that a licence in form F.L. 4 entitles the licensee to sell foreign liquor for consumption "off and on the premises", July 18, 1972 was the date fixed for auction at Allahabad and Agra and July 20 was the date of auction at Lucknow.;