AFTER A period of around 12 years, a vacation bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday restored the L-12-C liquor licence to WWICS Resorts Private Limited which owns Forest Hill Golf and Country Club Resort at Karoran village in Mohali district. The High Court had taken suo motu notice of the case on the basis of media reports in January 2004 about the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests finding the resort, spread over 378 acres and owned by Lt Col (retd) B S Sandhu, being developed in violation of the environmental laws. Later, the case was handed over to the CBI. The CBI probe has not been completed. The petitioner resort had approached the High Court and submitted that since the Supreme Court had in May 2014 and the Punjab and Haryana High Court on July 4, 2014, had ruled that the resort was not established over forest land, its liquor licence should be restored as numerous players are expected to participate in the game of golf organised in the resort. [related-post] Watch Video: What's making news The counsel appearing for the resort had submitted that the petitioner company has set up resort only within the non-forest area which has again been identified and demarcated by various departments. The CBI investigation which commenced in 2004 also did not get over even after a lapse of 12 years. The division bench comprising Justices M Jeyapaul and A B Chaudhari ordered that the legitimate right of the petitioner to have the licence restored provisionally cannot be declined, and directed the authorities to restore the licence within two working days.
