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4. The retail sale of foreign and country liquor in the State of Madhya Pradesh is done by retail shops for which licences are issued to individuals in accordance with the Excise policy framed by the State Government every year. The State Government formulated the Excise policy for the financial year 2020-21, which was notified in Madhya Pradesh Gazette on 25.02.2020 whereunder, the licence period of the licensees had to commence from 01.04.2020 and to conclude on 31.03.2021. A perusal of Clause 1 of the policy shows the mode in which the licences for the shops were to be issued. As per clause 1(1) thereof, the entire districts of four metropolitan cities of the State i.e. Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur and Gwalior were to be geographically divided into two groups having both the nature of liquor shops as far as possible. Clause 1(2) provided the remaining 12 Districts having Municipal Corporations i.e. Sagar, Ratlam, Ujjain, Khandwa, Burhanpur, Dewas, Satna, Katni, Rewa, Singrauli, Chhindwara and Morena to have single group of liquor shops. The execution of the shops referred to in sub-clause (1) and (2), was to be done through e-tendering cum auction and the reserve price for the shops was fixed 25% higher than the previous year's annual value. As per Clause 1(3), except for the districts mentioned in Clause 1(1) and 1(2), in all other districts, the annual price of single groups of liquor shops prevailing in the year 2019-20 will be increased by 25% for the year 2020-21 and will be executed according to previous year's system i.e. through renewal, lottery and e-tender (closed bid and auction). As per Clause 68 thereof, the process of renewal and lottery of the shops other than the four major cities and 12 districts was to commence from 29.02.2020 and this process was to end on 9 th March, 2020 with the examination, opening and disposal of such applications WP-7373-2020 & connected matters for renewal and lottery by the District Committee. The first round for e- tendering (closed bid and auction) for four Metropolitan Cities of the State i.e. Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Gwalior and 12 districts was to commence from 5th March, 2020 with the downloading and submission of e-tender (closed bids) and e-tender (offers). The e-tender (closed bid) and online tender applications were to be opened on 11 th March, 2020 and the auction was to be done on 12th March, 2020. In second round, programme of e-tender (closed bid and auction) of four Metropolitan Cities and 12 Districts of Municipal Corporation of first round and other groups of renewal and lottery through e- tender (closed bid and auction) was to commence on 14th March, 2020 and for opening of e-tender (closed bid) on-line applications the date was fixed as 19 th March, 2020 and for e-tender (auction), the date was fixed as 20 th March, 2020. Similarly, for the groups for which e-tender (closed bid and auction) was to be done and they were left despite second round, the programme of third round was to commence from 21st March and was upto 25th March, 2020 with their e-tender (auction). The fourth round for execution of groups was fixed for the remaining groups from 26th March to 29th March, 2020. Clause 2 of the policy provided that country (domestic)/foreign liquor shops in off categories located in the State were to be converted into on-category through shop bar licence after charging additional price as an option as per rules and licence for shop bars will be given on annual licence fee of 2% of the annual value of the liquor shop. The relevant clauses of the Excise Policy 2020-21 (Annexure P-1), read as under:-
29. Petitioner No.21 Hoshangabad (1 Group) 12,80,00,000
30. Petitioner No.22 Alirajpur (1 Group) 32,90,70,000
31. Petitioner No.22 Dhar (1 Group) 41,66,00,000
32. Petitioner No.23 Shivpuri (Entire District) 204,12,00,000
33. Petitioner No.24 Dewas (Entire District) 239.00 Crore
34. Petitioner No.25 Indore A (Half District) 643.32 Crore
35. Petitioner No.25 Indore B (Half District) 522.34 Crore
15. Chamunda Enterprises Ratlam 3.5.2020 7.5.2020 EM deposited, BG & PDC not deposited
16. Manish Jatt Narsinghpur 31.3.2020 5.5.2020 EM, BG & PDC deposited Vidisha 2.5.2020 6.5.2020 -do-
Hoshangabad 1.5.2020 7.5.2020 -do-
17. Mukesh Bilwar Narsinghpur 31.3.2020 5.5.2020 -do-
18. Alcoactive Retail Bhopal 1.4.2020 - EM deposited, BG & PDC
Traders Pvt. Ltd. not deposited
19. Raisen Marketing Pvt. Shajapur 3.5.2020 6.5.2020 EM, BG & PDC deposited
Ltd. Vidisha 2.5.2020 6.5.2020 EM deposited, earlier BG
deposited but BG of
difference amount & PDC
not deposited
Alirajpur 2.5.2020 6.5.2020 EM & BG deposited
PDC not deposited
Hoshangabad 1.5.2020 - EM, BG & PDC deposited
20. Raisen Marketing - - - -
21. Mandori Traders Pvt. Shajapur 3.5.2020 6.5.2020 EM, BG & PDC deposited
Ltd.
Hoshangabad 1.5.2020 - EM & PDC deposited.
BG not deposited
22. Swami Multi Marketing Shajapur 3.5.2020 6.5.2020 EM, BG & PDC deposited
Pvt. Ltd. Dhar 1.5.2020 6.5.2020 EM & BG deposited. PDC
not deposited
Alirajpur 2.5.2020 6.5.2020 EM deposited. BG & PDC
not deposited
23. Moonrise Retail Shivpuri 2.5.2020 7.5.2020 -do-
Trading Pvt. Ltd.
24. Ms/ Wine World Devas 2.5.2020 7.5.2020 -do-
25. Indore Liquors Gallery Indore 1.4.2020 - -do-
26. Aldas India Pvt. Ltd. Tikamgarh 1.5.2020 6.5.2020 -do-
27. Sunil Sahu Neemuch 3.5.2020 6.5.2020 -do-
28. M/s P.N. Group Guna 7.4.2020 6.5.2020 EM, BG & PDC deposited
Vidisha 2.5.2020 6.5.2020 -do-
Ashoknagar 1.5.2020 6.5.2020 -do-
29. Sangeeta Chauhan Guna 7.4.2020 6.5.2020 -do-
30. Shri Dharamveer Rajgarh 7.4.2020 6.5.2020 EM deposited, BG & PDC
Rathore not deposited
22. The respondents-State by filing an application IA No.4142/2020 have adopted the pleadings filed in WP No.7373/2020 for the purposes of responding in all the connected writ petitions.
23. IA No.4737/2020 dated 03.06.2020 i.e. the Reply to the additional affidavit submitted by the respondents-State has been filed by the petitioners to clarify the facts submitted by the respondents. It is averred that to say the least, the correct factual position has not been stated by the respondents. It is WP-7373-2020 & connected matters stated that merely 12.17% of the petitioners in terms of revenue have accepted the revised policy due to various reasons. The liquor contractors/groups who have not accepted the changed terms and conditions comprise nearly 75% of the revenue of the State through liquor contracts. Four metros, namely, Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur and Gwalior itself constitute more than 40% of the revenue through liquor sale and they have not agreed to the changed terms and have kept their shops closed after the time limit for accepting the terms of the amended policy expired. In two major metros namely, Indore and Bhopal the shops were never opened till-date (03.06.2020). The document Annexure R-11 filed by the respondents itself shows that the duty being collected/goods being lifted are only at 33.85% of the licence value in view of the extreme dip in sales. The document Annexure R-15 relied upon by the respondents is a misleading document since it does not reflect the revenue share of the licensees who have accepted the option. In fact, Jabalpur city comprises of 144 shops with revenue of over Rs.600 Crore but in Annexure R-15 the respondents have shown Jabalpur as only two groups. Still further, prior to auction/renewal, the number of groups were 1147 in number out of which 232 groups have accepted the revised policy amounting to 20.05% of the groups. The petitioners have filed chart Annexure A-1 with the reply to suggest that across the State, the total revenue impact of non-acceptance of new terms and closing of shops is 73.43% whereas only 26.57% have opted for the changed conditions. As far as the petitioners in W.P. No.7373/2020 are concerned, it is stated that these 30 petitioners comprise of the State revenue of Rs.4,392.66 Crore and out of them, only 4-5 shops/groups have accepted the terms and opened the shops. They comprise of only 12.17% of revenue, which means that contractors with 88% of revenue involved in the petition have not accepted the amended policy after 28.05.2020.