Calcutta High Court
Reliable Hides Pvt. Ltd. & Anr vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors on 11 March, 2008
Author: Dipankar Datta
Bench: Dipankar Datta
WP No. 159 of 2008
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
Constitutional Writ/Civil Appellate/Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction
ORIGINAL SIDE
RELIABLE HIDES PVT. LTD. & ANR. Plaintiff/Petitioner/Applicant
Versus
THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL & ORS. Defendant/Respondent
For Plaintiff/Petitioner : Mr. Jaydeep Kar For Defendant/Respondent : Mr. A.K. Chatterjee BEFORE:
The Hon'ble JUSTICE DIPANKAR DATTA Date : 11th March, 2008.
The Court : The report of the Assistant Engineer, relied on by the Collector of Excise, Kolkata-North while passing the impugned order dated 29.1.08, rejecting the prayer of the petitioner for grant of Foreign Liquor 'ON' Shop license, has been produced in Court in terms of its earlier order dated 26.2.08. The report shall be retained with the records of this case.
It appears from the said report that the Assistant Engineer has measured the distances between the proposed site of the petitioners' shop and Kasai Goli Mosque at 13A, Princep Street, Kolkata 700 069 and between the said proposed shop and the Shiva Temple at 20A, British India Street, Kolkata 700 069 as 958 sq. ft. and 534 sq. ft. respectively.
Rejection of the petitioners' prayer, inter alia, on the ground that the proposed shop is situated at a distance of 534 sq. ft. from the Shiva Temple at 20A, British India Street, Kolkata 700 069 cannot be sustained in law. In terms of Rule 8 of the West Bengal Excise (Selection of New 2 Sites and Grant of License for Retail Sale of Liquor and Certain Other Intoxicants) Rules, 2003 (hereafter the Rules), a traditional place of worship would mean a place of worship that is in existence for a period of not less than 20 years or as per Section 5 of the West Bengal Religious Building and Places Act, 1985 has been established within the jurisdiction of Kolkata with the permission of the Police Commissioner and with the permission of the Collector of the District, if it is outside the jurisdiction of Kolkata.
It appears from the document dated 22.2.07 issued by the Executive Engineer (C)/Bldg., Borough No. 6 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation that premises No. 20A, Abdul Hamid Street is being used as Temple since 1995. It is not in dispute that British India Street has since been renamed Abdul Hamid Street and, therefore, the letter of the Executive Engineer refers to the Shiva Temple at 20A, British India Street, Kolkata 700 069.
Since it has been certified by the Executive Engineer of the Corporation that the premises is being used for temple purpose since 1995 and nothing has been indicated in the impugned order of the Collector that such temple was established with the permission of Police Commissioner, Kolkata Police, the said Temple is not covered by the meaning of traditional place of worship as explained in Rule 8 of the said Rules and, therefore, the existence of the said Shiva Temple cannot be cited as a bar for not granting licence to the petitioners.
It further appears that the petitioners had submitted before the Collector a report from one Mr. B.N. Goswami, registered Valuer and Surveyor of the High Court which suggests that the distance between the proposed shop of the petitioners and Kasai Goli Mosque is 1184 sq.ft. It does not appear from the impugned order as to how the report of the said Mr. Goswami was dealt with by the Collector.
Be that as it may, in view of conflicting reports of the Assistant Engineer measuring the distance as 958 sq.ft. and the registered 3 Valuer and Surveyor of the High Court measuring the distance as 1184 sq.ft., this Court considers it fit and proper to appoint another Surveyor from its panel for the purpose of measuring the distance between the proposed shop of the petitioners and Kasai Goli Mosque in accordance with the provisions contained in the said Rules. Accordingly, Mr. Sarbojit Dutta of 37/C, Pratapditya Place, Kolkata-700 026, is appointed by this Court as Special Officer to conduct an enquiry to measure the distance between the proposed shop of the petitioners and Kasai Goli Mosque in accordance with the provisions contained in Rule 8 of the said Rules. The Special Officer shall visit the locale upon serving 96 hours advance notice to the parties and the parties shall be entitled to be present at the time of enquiry to assist him. Upon enquiry, a report shall be prepared which shall be signed by the parties present and presented before this Court on 28.3.08 when the writ petition shall be listed once again as "For Orders".
The expenses of the Special Officer shall be borne entirely by the petitioners.
All parties concerned are to act on a photostat signed copy of this order on the usual undertakings.
(DIPANKAR DATTA, J.) TR/