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New Delhi/Nagpur: The Bihar government has moved the Supreme Court to challenge a Patna HC order which scrapped the Nitish Kumar government’s decision banning sale of liquor in the state.
The state’s appeal will be filed and mentioned before the bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur requesting urgent hearing on the petition, Bihar government counsel Keshav Mohan said.
On Friday, an HC bench of Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and Justice Navaniti Singh had struck down the government’s April 5 notification banning sale of liquor. The HC had termed the notification unconstitutional, draconian and unwarranted in a civilised society.
The state will question the HC judgment on two grounds its soundness on constitutional principles and societal needs. The JD (U)-RJD combine will tell the SC that the HC was neither legally correct in holding that trading in liquor was a fundamental right nor did it properly appreciate the ill-effects of alcohol on society.
