Liquor trade not a right, HC upholds licence suspension

Bhopal/Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh high court has upheld the suspension of licences of a distillery firm, ruling that trade in liquor is not a fundamental right and that authorities are within their powers to act against violations of licence conditions, even if action is taken after a delay. The bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal said that if the violations were serious and concerned distilling, brewing and bottling of liquor action must be taken and suspension of licence of M/s Som Distilleries by the excise commissioner was appropriate legal action. With this observation, the court dismissed the petition of the company challenging suspension of its licence. The company said that action in 2026 based on a show cause notice issued in 2024 was not legal as the licence that year ended in March 31, 2024. Following expiry of the licence, the notice should automatically cease to have legal validity. However, counsel for the state govt said that the excise department has a right to take action if there has been a violation of terms and conditions in the licence. The court in its order held that a show cause notice has no expiry date and delayed action on the basis of a show cause notice is not illegal.