B.N. DEY & CO AND ORS. Vs. STATE OF ASSAM & OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these seven writ petitions the petitioners impugn the same Notice No. EX. 26/76/240 dated 7.6.80 for settlement of foreign liquor shops, issued by the Deputy Secretary to the Government of Assam, Excise Department under the provisions of Assam Liquor Prohibition Act inviting application in prescribed form for the grant of wholesale/retail 'off' licences for a period of 3 (three) years from 1.8.80/the date of settlement, whichever is later, in the places mentioned in the Notice. As the Notice Impugned and the questions of law involved are common, the petitions are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) The merit of legislation by incorporation by reference is brevity which is largely counter-balanced by difficulties and obscurities which it is likely to create. Modern tendency to overdo legislation by reference and to attempt brevity at the expenses lucidity is deprecated, when a prior general Act is incorporated into a subsequent special one, should the provisions of the latter prevail over any of the former with which they are inconsistent? Will amendment of the former be binding on the latter? These are precisely the questions that arise in these applications.

(3.) As the individual facts will not be so much material for the purpose of adjudication of the common questions of law, those need not be specifically described. In Civil Rule No. 315/80 the petitioner, M/S. B.N. Dey & Co., Gauhati is a registered partnership firm and has been holding retail 'off' licence of India made foreign liquor as such for less than 25 consecutive years. In Civil Rule 316/80 the petitioner M/S. Khubchand & Sons, Gauhati is a Hindu Undivided Family firm of three copartners and has been holding a retail India made foreign liquor 'off' licence since 1956. In Civil Rule No. 318/80 the petitioner Shri Benoy Kumar Ghosh of Margaldoi has been holding a similar licence since 1960. The petitioner in Civil Rule No. 319/80 Shri Upendra Nath Paul of Kokrajhar has been holding a similar licence since 1962. The petitioner in Civil Rule No. 323 of 1980, M/S. Jagatbandhu Pharmacy & Stores is a registered partnership firm of Tezpur town and has been holding a similar licence since 1969. The petitioner in Civil Rule No. 333/80 Shri Makhan Lal Das is the partner of M/S. Meghamall & Sons of Nowgong town and has been holding a similar licence since 1968. The petitioner in Civil Rule No. 335/80 M/S. Doss & Co. of Nowgong is a registered partnership firm and has been holding a similar licence since 1976. All the above seven petitions are from prohibited area and being India made foreign liquor 'off the premises licence-holders are aggrieved by the Impugned notice which all have challenged.