Patna HC expresses concern over pendency of over 2 lakh

Expressing concern over pendency of over 2 lakh prohibition-related cases, the Patna high court has asked the Bihar government to file its reply on tackling litigations arising out of enforcement of prohibition law in the state.

Complete prohibition was enforced by the state government in April 2016 under which manufacturing, storage, transportation, selling and consumption of all types of liquor are banned.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh on Thursday directed the state government to file a detailed reply as how it intends to deal with the pending cases arising out of liquor ban in the state.

The matter has been posted for hearing in the Chief Justice's court on Friday.

The bench observed that it is the duty of the state government to ensure speedy hearing of such cases after enforcing the prohibition law.

It also wanted to know about appeals filed by the state government in the Supreme Court in the past three years, during which the prohibition law was under challenge.

"In how many such cases has the state government appealed the high court's orders in the Supreme Court?" the bench asked advocate general Lalit Kishore.

The court passed the order while hearing a case arising out of an order passed by the single bench of Justice Anil Kumar Upadhyay on August 21, 2019.

The single bench had expressed concern over the pendency of over 2.07 lakh cases related to the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 in subordinate courts till July 8, 2019.

Around 1.67 lakh people were arrested and 52.02 lakh litres of liquor seized under the prohibition law in past three years, it had said.

The single bench had sought a detailed reply from the chief secretary as to what the government has done for quick disposal of prohibition-related cases.