NARAYAN SHUKLA,J. - (1.) Heard Mr. Mohan Jain, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Manish Mathur, Mr. Alok Kapoor and Mr. Prashant Singh Atal, learned counsels for the petitioner and Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Subhash Vidyarthi, learned counsel for the opposite party No.3, Mr. S.K.Kalia, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Sameer Kalia, learned counsel for opposite party No.4, Mr. Jaspreet Singh, learned counsel for opposite party No.5, Mr. Anurag Singh, learned counsel for the opposite party No.6 and Mr. Jaideep Narain Mathur, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Dhruv Mathur and Mr. Amit Kumar Singh Bhadauria, learned counsels for opposite party No.7 as well as learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel.
(2.) The petitioner is a Company registered under the Companies Act 1956. The petitioner has claimed to be busy in the business of manufacturing of country liquor since the year 1942. The State Government on 11 February 2009 framed Excise Policy for the year 2009-10. The Excise Year starts from 1st April of every year and ends on 31st March of every year. In view of the policy laid down by the State Government the Excise Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh amended the Uttar Pradesh Excise (Settlement of Licenses for Wholesale of Country Liquor) Rules, 2002. It issued a notification dated 13 February 2009, whereby it framed the Uttar Pradesh Excise (Settlement of Licenses for Wholesale of Country Liquor) (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2009, which continued till the next amendment i.e. Fifth amendment, which was made in the Rules by Notification dated 31 March 2011.
(3.) Since the State Government has changed its policy to some extent for the Excise year 2012-13 by amending the Rules, the State Government framed Uttar Pradesh Excise (Settlement of Licenses for Wholesale Country Liquor) (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2011. Rules 2011 and substituted new provisions of Rule 6(1) in place of old provisions. We quote new provisions of Rule 6 as under:- "6(1) Licence for shops of whole sale of country liquor in every Zone may be given to: An Individual, a partnership firm or company, Excluding Consortium shall be eligible. It shall be necessary to produce Article of Association, Memorandum of Association and certificate of incorporation in case of company, certified copy of the registered partnership deed in case of partnership firm and copy of domicile certificate issued by the Competent Authority in case of individual; (2) The Applicant must have turn over of Rs.400 crores during anyone of the past three Excise years inclusive of the current year. Certificate of Chartered Accountant and certificates of Excise or Commercial Department of States and Union Territories shall be acceptable; (3) The applicant should have experience of wholesale vend of liquor as licensee but he shall not be producer of alcohol or manufacturer of liquor. (4) The applicant shall also produce Balance Sheet certified by Chartered Accountant and his PAN number. In the event of death, if a licence is held by an individual, his legal heir(s), if otherwise eligible, may continue to hold the licence for the remaining period of the licence. (5) The applicant has not been a defaulter/blacklisted for the excise dues or debarred from holding an Excise Licence under the provisions of any rules made under the Act. (6) The applicant does not possess any licence for retail sale of country liquor, foreign liquor and beer in the State. (7) The applicant shall submit an affidavit duly verified by notary public as proof of the following, namely: (I) that he possesses or has an arrangement for taking on rent a suitable premise in that locality for opening the shop in accordance with the provisions of Uttar Pradesh Number and Location of Excise Shop Rules, 1968 as amended from time to time. (II) that his proposed premises of the shop have to been constructed in violation of any law or rules. (III) that he and his family members/Directors of the Company possess good moral character and have no criminal back ground nor have been convicted of any offence punishable under United Provinces Excise Act, 1910 or Narcotics Drugs And Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 or any other cognizable and non-bailable offence; (IV) that in case he is selected as Licensee he shall furnish a certificate issued by Senior Superintendent of Police/Superintendent of Police of the district of which he is the resident, showing that he as well as his family members possess good moral character and have no criminal background or criminal record, within 30 days of the grant of licence; (V) that he shall not employ any salesman or representative who has criminal background as mentioned in sub-clause (iii) or who suffers from any infectious or contagious diseases or is below 21 years of age or a woman; (VI) that he is not in arrear of any public dues or Government dues; (VII) that he is solvent and has the necessary funds or has made arrangements for the necessary funds, for conducting the business, the details of which shall be made available to licensing authority if required." ;