Patna high court quashes Bihar notification banning liquor
Patna high court says the 5 April notification banning liquor sale is ultra vires to the Constitution, hence not enforceable
Patna: In a setback to the Bihar government, the Patna high court on Friday quashed the government notification completing banning liquor in the state, saying it is ultra vires to the Constitution.
A division bench of the court comprising chief justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and justice Navaniti Prasad Singh quashed the 5 April notification of the state government to stop consumption and sale of alcohol in the state.
The 5 April notification is ultra vires to the Constitution, hence not enforceable, the court said in its verdict. The same bench had on 20 May reserved its order on a batch of writ petitions filed by Liquor Trade Association and many individuals challenging the liquor law in Bihar brought by Nitish Kumar government with stringent penal provisions.
The Nitish Kumar-led Grand Secular Alliance government had first banned the manufacture, trade, sale, consumption of country-made liquor since 1 April, but later imposed a blanket ban on all types of liquor including foreign liquor in the state.
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