Padma Khastgir, J. - (1.) The petitioners before me are the East India Hotel Limited and Narayan Chandra Dis Sharma, a shareholder of the East India Hotel Limited The petitioner No. 1 is a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act and carries on business, inter alia, in establishing and turning hotels and restaurants in India. The petitioner No. 2 is a shareholder and Director of petitioner No. 1 and is a citizen of the Union of India.
(2.) The petitioner No. 1 owns a hotel known as 'Grand Hotel' in the city of Calcutta situated at Chowringhee Road. The said building is a four-storeyed building consisting of 300 rooms. In the year 1961 the Central Government set up a classification Committee to go around all over India and to inspect the hotels and restaurants in accordance with the criteria sheets specifying marks for amenities provided and for giving recognition and approval of such establishment which fulfilled the basic criteria as being fit to cater for its tourists. In the said classification 'Grand Hotel' has been categorised as a five star hotel in the country. The said hotel has been declared as a Public Utility Concern by the Government of West Bengal by various notifications under the provisions of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
(3.) In order to be categorised as a 5 Star Hotel it should have certain basic features and amenities like band, bar, cabaret and evening entertainments, swimming pools etc. Unless these special facilities are available the said hotel would not be classified as a 5 Star Hotel. At the instance of Government of India the petitioner had to spend lakhs of rupees to make it upto the standard and cater foreign tourists and visitors and earn mire foreign exchange for the country The particular hotel is a residential hotel and maintains a very high standard of service for 24 hours round the clock. This hotel has a licence from the Corporation of Calcutta for providing evening entertainments during the licensing hours which extend upto A M. and the licensing hours for bar and restaurant establishments of the hotel are specified in the licences issued by the Excise Commissioner under the Bengal Excise Act and the Commissioner of Police under Calcutta Police Act. The nature of service rendered by this Hotel is of very special type and unless such high standard of services are maintained it is not possible for the Hotelier to run the hotel and earn the category of 5 Star Hotel. It is a hotel in which board and lodging is provided and meals are served to the guests and tourists including alcoholic beverages, both of foreign liquor and India made liquor. The restaurant situated inside the hotel cater for outsiders, mostly foreign tourists and the restaurants are being maintained and/or run in accordance with the international standard and to maintain such standard the Hotel owners have to incur heavy overhead expenses for providing services to the guests and tourists. According to the petitioner, no sale of any alcoholic liquor is transacted but served by the hotelier to its customers and residents in the said hotel. There is no sale of such drinks but this is a part of the services rendered by the Hotelier to its customer as an innkeeper.;