The Gujarat High Court is scheduled to review a cluster of petitions that question the constitutional validity of the Gujarat Prohibition Act, 1949. This matter was presented before the division bench, comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee, on September 12, with the petitioners passionately seeking an expedited hearing.
Although over seven decades have elapsed since the enactment of this law, originally known as the Bombay Prohibition Act, several of its provisions are now under legal scrutiny, forming the basis for a challenge in the high court.
These petitions will finally be assessed on their merits, following a prior ruling in August 2021 by a Gujarat High Court bench, headed by the then Chief Justice Vikam Nath and Justice Biren Vaishnav, which deemed the petitions admissible. Nevertheless, the petitions are yet to be examined for their substantive content.
The journey of contesting the prohibition law commenced in 2018 when three Gujarat residents filed the initial petition. In their submission, they contested various sections of the prohibition act and the regulations outlined in The Bombay Foreign Liquor Rules, 1953.
Subsequently, in 2019, an additional five petitions were filed by litigants representing diverse backgrounds, all challenging the law. The petitioners grounded their challenge in the right to privacy, established as a fundamental right by the Supreme Court in multiple judgments since 2017.
Specifically, they raised concerns about sections pertaining to health permits and temporary permits for out-of-state tourists, alleging a violation of the Right to Equality under Article 14 of the Constitution.
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