Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Saturday, October 25, reserved its verdict in a case challenging the extension of the deadline for receiving applications for liquor shop allocations.
The court made it clear that any decision taken by the government regarding the allocation process would be subject to the final judgment. Both parties were directed to submit brief written arguments by Monday.
The dispute arose after the Excise Department extended the last date for submitting applications from October 18 to October 23.
The order issued by the Excise Commissioner was challenged by D Venkateswara Rao and four others from Hyderabad through a writ petition before the High Court.
Govt’s arguments
Justice N Tukaramji heard the arguments in the case. Appearing for the government, Additional Advocate General Mohammed Imran Khan argued that the application process was being carried out transparently and in the public interest.
He cited Supreme Court guidelines, noting that courts could intervene only if there was bias or malicious intent in the process.
He further informed the court that the extension was granted due to the bandh situation during the initial submission period.
He also pointed out that one of the petitioners had, in fact, filed an application on October 23, suggesting that the petition was filed with misleading intent.
Counter arguments
Senior advocate Avinash Desai, appearing for the petitioners, countered that they were not seeking to amend the rules but only urging the government to follow the existing ones.
He argued that once the deadline for applications was fixed, the authorities had no power to change it later.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, the court reserved its order in the matter.
