- (1.) This petition seeks quashing of clause 18.0 of Excise Policy 2011-12 issued by the State Government. The case of the petitioners is that they were holding L-17A licence under which they purchased denatured spirit from distilleries and sold the same to L-17 licencees and L-42A permit holders. Every year new excise policy is released by the State Government under the provisions of Punjab Excise Act, 1914. Excise Policy for the year 2011-12 has been released, inter-alia, providing as under: 18.0:- L-17A License: A lot of substitute of denatured spirit are available in the market. As a result the demand of denatured spirit has declined sharply. The business of L-17 licensee is becoming more and more unviable. Moreover, the department has frozen the number of L-17 licenses since 2003. The existence of L-17A license which is an inter mediator between the distillery and L-17 licensee caused to increase the price of denatured spirit further. The denatured spirit therefore becomes costlier than other cheap substitutes. The L-17A license may be discontinued as this has not been found to be serving any useful purposes. In view of the above position it has been decided that the new L-17 licenses will be granted in the current year by the Excise and Taxation Commissioner depending on, the requirement of the area/district.
(2.) The result of the above policy is not to renew the L-17A licences which affected the rights of the petitioners. The petitioners made representation to the State but no decision has been taken.
(3.) The contention raised in the petition is that the policy of the State Government violates the fundamental right of the petitioners under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution. The State cannot prohibit business in denatured spirit but can only regulate the same as held in Synthetics and Chemicals Ltd. Etc. v. State of U.P., 1990 AIR(SC) 1927;