The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday issued a notice of motion to the Union Territory of Chandigarh for April 3 while ordering the maintenance of status quo on three petitions challenging the liquor vends tendering process in the city.
The court’s directive effectively puts a hold on the allocation of liquor vends under the new tendering process while the legal challenge is under consideration.
During the preliminary hearing, the Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Vikas Suri observed that the allocation of even 10 vends to a single entity ran contrary to the provisions of the Competition Act, which seeks to prevent anti-competitive practices, promote fair trade, and protect consumer interests.
These remarks followed submissions highlighting that a single family and their associates had secured 87 out of 97 liquor vends in the tendering process.
The matter was argued in court by senior advocates Chetan Mittal and Puneet Bali, with one of the petitions filed through advocate Bikramjit Singh Patwalia.
The court’s decision is significant as it ensures that the existing vends will continue operations until March 31, while the newly allocated vends under the contentious tendering process remain unenforced.
The Chandigarh liquor vends tendering process for 2025-26 came under judicial scrutiny after a contractor raised allegations of cartelisation and non-compliance with the excise policy.
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One of the petitions contended that the tendering results showed that over 87 out of 97 vends had been cornered by just two or three individuals operating through different firm names or using their relatives, associates, and employees as proxies.
The petitioners, including M/S Kler Wines, challenged the notice inviting tender (NIT) dated March 13, arguing that the entire process had been conducted in violation of prescribed rules and should be quashed.
Counsel for the petitioners, Patwalia, asserted that the flawed procedure contravened the Excise Policy 2025-26 and the Punjab Liquor Licence (Chandigarh Amendment) Rules, 2020.
The petitioners emphasised that the policy explicitly restricted any individual, firm, or company from acquiring more than 10 liquor vends to prevent monopolisation and cartelisation.
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However, they alleged that the authorities had permitted certain individuals, acting through family members, associates, and employees forming a group of nearly 11 members, to circumvent this restriction and establish an overwhelming control over Chandigarh’s liquor trade.
Patwalia further argued that Clause 14 of the Excise Policy specifically mandated that any entity attempting to monopolize or form a cartel to dominate the liquor trade must be considered as a single entity and subjected to the maximum allocation limit of 10 vends.
He contended that the Chandigarh Administration had failed to enforce this provision, thereby enabling private respondents to gain disproportionate influence over liquor distribution in the city.
It was also submitted that the tendering process lacked transparency and was not conducted in accordance with legal provisions. The Excise Policy was framed to ensure fair distribution of liquor vends and to prevent monopolisation.
However, the petitioners argued that the tendering process had been manipulated to allow certain individuals or entities to bid through proxies, thereby defeating the fundamental objective of the policy. The High Court’s intervention now puts the entire tendering process under scrutiny, with the next hearing scheduled for April 3.
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