'What is the urgency': Bombay HC refuses urgent hearing on Wankhede's plea on liquor licence restoration

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday expressed anger over how a petition filed the previous day by NCBs former Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede was listed for hearing without the court permitting the sameA division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar refused to grant hearing on the petition saying there was no urgencyWankhede a 2008 batch IRS officer filed a petition on Monday challenging an order passed by the Thane Excise Collector cancelling the liquor licence of his restaurant and bar in Navi Mumbai and sought restoration of the cancelled licenseHow come this petition is listed today when it was not mentioned before us on Monday We have not allowed it Justice Patel saidWankhedes advocate Veena Thadani told the court that they were waiting to mention the matter on Monday but the court staff said it would be listed on TuesdayThe bench then warned the court staff from doing soA poor person files a petition and their matter is never taken up for hearing and when an influential person files a petition their plea is listed for hearing immediately Justice Jamdar saidWhat is the grave urgency What heavens will fall the bench askedAdvocate Feroze Bharucha appearing for Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik who is a respondent in the case sought a copy of the petition and time to respond to the sameThere are allegations and false statements made against the minister Bharucha saidThe court then said it was not going to grant any urgent hearing to the petition and that it will be taken up for hearing in due courseJust because you two Wankhede and Malik are having a war of words in the media we have to grant urgent hearing Justice Patel askedWankhede in the petition claimed that actions initiated against him were vindictive as he had arrested Maliks soninlaw in a drugs case when he was heading the Mumbai Narcotics Control Bureau NCB unitHe further claimed that the action was taken against him by the state Excise Department and the police under political pressureAs per the petition the license was granted in October 1997 and was renewed time and again till 2021After my client Wankhede arrested minister Nawab Maliks soninlaw in a drugs case the minister wrote a letter in November 2021 to the Thane Excise Collector raising questions on the license Wankhedes advocate Vishal Thadani saidPursuant to the letter an inquiry was initiated and three showcause notices were issued to Wankhede A hearing was given and the license was then cancelled Hence he Wankhede has moved the high court challenging the cancellation and to seek restoration of the license Thadani saidWankhede had appealed to the state Excise Commissioner who apparently orally refused to stay the orderIn his petition Wankhede said he cannot be blamed for not disclosing his age since the rules do not prescribe the age while applying for the FL III foreign liquor license and the application form does not provide for disclosure of the applicants ageAccording to Wankhedes plea FL III licence is granted for one year at a time and is an annual contract between the individual and the state and hence the licence granted in 1997 came to an end in 1998Wankhede in his plea said he turned 18 on December 14 1997 and thereafter the licence has been renewed for 23 years every yearThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever