Liquor Licence Cannot Be Granted Like This: Bombay High Court To Maha Govt Over Permitting Open Sale Of Liquor At Sunburn Festival

In a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) raising concerns over the sale of liquor in the first ever Sunburn Festival, which is being held in Mumbai from December 19 till December 21, the Bombay High Court on Friday questioned the Maharashtra Government's decision to allow liquor at the event, especially when it is going to be held in an open-air venue.

A division bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad too raised concerns over the decision to allow liquor in such an event which is expected to witness thousands of footfalls as already 31,000 tickets for the event have been sold. 

"You have to take precautionary measures and not remedial measures as anything can happen in an event of this extent. People will have drinks and roam in public space. No one can roam around drunk that too in open spaces. Why should the law be different for them?" the bench remarked. 

This was in response to the submissions of Advocate General Milind Sathe, who tried to convince the court that there would be no law and order situation as apt arrangements have been made. He pointed that around 200 policemen have been deployed to man the security of the event.

However, the judges, seemed unimpressed by this and questioned if the 200 policemen would be able to handle thousands of drunk persons, if there is any untoward incident. 

Making it clear to the government that liquor licences cannot be granted in the manner as in the present case wherein a huge crowd of 40,000 is expected to attend the event, the judges, asked the State to reconsider its policy. 

Though the judges did not pass any restraining orders against the festival, but it kept the PIL pending, stating, "We are keeping the petition pending. We do not know when some other petition (on this issue) will be filed. We will lay down the law. You cannot run liquor licenses like this."

The instant PIL was filed by one Chintamani Sarang, who raised concerns over security issues and also on the sale of liquor at the event, which will host thousands of youngsters from the age of 16 years, for eight hours daily from December 19 till December 21. 

Meanwhile, Advocates Karl Tamboly and Mustafa Kachwala, representing the event organisers, highlighted the fact that their clients have obtained all the requisite permissions for conducting the festival. They further assured the bench that they have installed 250 CCTV cameras, deployed 500 private security personnel besides the Mumbai Police's team etc to take care of the security of the event.