Ranchi: The Jharkhand High Court has directed the state government and Jharkhand State Beverage Corporation Limited (JSBCL) to file an affidavit while hearing a petition demanding a stay on the new rule to sell liquor in the state.
The bench of Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad gave direction to the government to file an affidavit and deferred the hearing in the matter till June 21. Senior advocates of the High Court Ajit Kumar, Aparajita Bhardwaj and Tanya Singh appeared in the court on behalf of the petitioners, Tarakeshwar Mahto, Sudhir Kumar and others.
It has been claimed in the petition that rules have been amended to benefit a particular company for personal gain. The petitioners have said in their petition that in the new rules, JSBCL has been made stockist across the state, and the company which has been given the responsibility of wholesale sales will sell its goods to JSBCL only.
The wholesaler company will also keep its goods in the warehouse of JSBCL without paying any duty whereas JSBCL will have to pay the duty before lifting the goods for retail sale. Along with this, many technical hurdles have also been talked about in the amended rules in the petition.