Sheer abuse of law: Delhi HC dismisses PIL seeking action over ‘harassment’ of private liquor vendors by central agencies, imposes Rs 1 lakh cost

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation that sought a list of 186 private liquor vendors in the national capital who were “harassed” by officials of the Central Burau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. Taking a dim view of the PIL, a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad also imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner, stating his petition as a “sheer abuse of the process of law”, reported Live Law.

The petition, filed by Narinder Khanna, an advocate by profession, also sought the court’s directions to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi to identify persons causing harassment to 186 liquor vendors and forcing them to close their shops, thereby depriving them of their right to livelihood guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

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Taking a stern view of the petition, the court observed that the petitioner wants a “roving inquiry” done by the court when he has neither named a single officer of the CBI or the ED, nor has he provided any specific details of the harassment he has alleged.

“The present petition is nothing but a sheer abuse of the process of law and the petitioner wants a roving inquiry to be done by this Court based upon vague and absurd allegations,” the court said, giving the petitioner 30 days to deposit Rs 1 lakh to the Army War Widows Fund.

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The petitioner had based his allegation, and his petition, upon a statement by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia that he heard on a television news channel. The Deputy CM, as per the petition, had allegedly claimed in his statement that private liquor vendors were being harassed and forced to shut down their shops by central investigating agencies.

As per the petitioner, the Deputy CM also confirmed that the closure of private liquor shops had resulted in heavy loss to the exchequer besides the loss of livelihood to private liquor vendors. The petition further quoted the Deputy CM as saying that the general public had been deprived of the opportunity to purchase liquor at a discounted price.