Licenced wine sellers, hoteliers can do business on Chhath Puja as Bombay High Court stays Collector ban order

Justice R I Chagla, while passing the order, considered the arguments of petitioners’ lawyers R D Soni and Sujay Gawade, that “the collector has formed his own opinion in the interest of public peace to close any place in which any intoxicant or hemp is sold, but the collector has just considered the report of the concerned commissioner of police”.

The plea added that the petitioners are paying huge amounts as licence fees to the state government for conducting their business and hence, keeping their trade closed for even a single day causes huge losses. It said that Chhath Puja is “performed at the sea shore only during the sunset, therefore, the order directing the closure in the entire area is not just and proper”.

The plea added that closure of the business for the entire day violates to the fundamental rights of the petitioners. “Also, the said puja doesn’t take more than three to four hours. The question therefore of ordering the maintenance of dry day also discloses arbitrariness and non-application of mind,” it said.

The plea further stated that some members of the petitioners’ association are conducting business within the jurisdiction of the Santacruz police station, where Chhath Puja is to be celebrated at Juhu beach in Santacruz on November 13 and 14.