Khoday Distilleries Ltd vs State Of Karnataka on 19 October, 1994
The Division Bench in the above judgment took the view that no one has a fundamental
right to trade in liquor as reiterated by the Supreme Court in Khoday Distilleries v.
State of Karnataka, 1995 (1) SCC 574. Licence to trade in liquor is merely a privilege
given to the licensee and, on the expiry of the licence, no right survives in the licensee,
if the licence has not been renewed. The Division Bench was of the view that renewal
of licence stands practically on the same footing as grant of fresh licence and that, in
a case where the licence had become defunct or had not been renewal for a long
period of time, the claimant cannot have a right of renewal by relying on the proviso to
Rule 14 of the Rules by contending that, however long the period of disruption may be,
the authority is obliged to renew the licence. We respectfully agree with this view.