Businessmen cannot receive extraordinary concessions by repeatedly citing pandemic, says Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court dismissed a petition filed by the hotel and restaurant association to reduce the liquor license renewal fee. The court said businessmen cannot repeatedly cite the pandemic to get extraordinary concessions.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by the hotel and restaurant associations demanding a reduction in liquor licence renewal fees and said the businessmen cannot receive “extraordinary concessions” by repeatedly citing the pandemic.

The petition, filed in April 2021, demanded a fifty per cent reduction in the licence renewal fee prescribed by the state government for selling foreign liquor at their hotels, bars and restaurants.

Advocate Viraag Tulzapurkar, who represented the association, argued that the licence holders conduct their business seven days a week between 11.30 am and 1.30 am. He said that since business hours were restricted during the pandemic, they are entitled to a concession or an adjustment of the licence fees.

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The bench presided by Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar said businessmen cannot receive “extraordinary concessions” by repeatedly citing the pandemic. “The pandemic affected everyone. All businesses suffered. No exceptional prejudice was caused to the present petitioners. The petitioners’ right to conduct business is not absolute in a time of global distress.”

The bench further said the pandemic was not the government’s fault. The government had responsibilities “far beyond the narrow commercial concerns of the associations and their foreign liquor vending business.” The bench stressed the government’s struggle to provide essential services and commodities and concluded that “the needs of the many will always outweigh the needs of the few.”

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