Asok Kumar Ganguly, J. - (1.)This writ petition has been filed challenging inter alia the site on which the Foreign Liquor Off Shop Licence was granted in favour of the respondent Nos. 7 and 8 namely, at 28, Hem Chandra Naskar Road, Police station-Beliaghata, Calcutta- 700 010 (hereinafter referred to as the said Premises'). The petitioner made it clear that he was not a rival applicant and is not challenging the grant of licence in favour of the respondent Nos. 7 and 8 on any other ground except that the site in respect of which the said licence has been granted is not permissible in view of the prohibitions contained under the Bengal Excise Act and the Rules.
(2.)The case of the petitioner is that he is a resident of the said premises in respect of which the licence has been granted and, as such, he has a right to object the grant of licence. The case made out in the writ petition is that the petitioner is a resident within the Maniktala Assembly Constituency. The said premises is situated near a very busy Bus Stop and within few yards of the said premises, there are Hospitals like Beliaghata I.B. and I.D. & B.G. Hospital, Dr. B.C. Roy Polia Clinic, Cholera Research Institute. There are Nursery Schools like Model, Primary School run by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation within the close vicinity of the said premises. There are few Doctor's chambers, Nursing Homes, Milk Depot etc. The Bus Stop is also situated just behind the said premises and it is stated that the locality around he said premises is a middle class locality. The petitioner's case is that he and other local inhabitants came to learn that a Foreign Liquor Off Shop was going to be started from the ground floor of the said premises. On coming to know of that he and other local inhabitants contacted the Officer-in-Charge of the Beliaghata Police Station, but, as no action was taken by the said Officer-in-Charge, the petitioner and other local inhabitants made a mass representation to the Honourable Minister of Excise Government of West Bengal praying for withdrawal of the permission for starting the shop at the said premises. But, their objection was in vain. Even then there was spontaneous local resistance to the running of the said shop. In order to prevent such resistance, the respondent Nos. 7 and 8 moved a writ petition before this Honourable Court which was numbered W.P. Nos. 1168 (W) of 2002 and in the said writ petition the respondent Nos. 7 and 8 prayed for necessary police help for running the said shop.
(3.)The petitioner came to learn for the first- time on 28th July, 2000 that a public notice was issued by the State of West Bengal in the Daily newspaper inviting applications from the eligible candidates for grant of licence for sale of foreign liquor in different parts of Calcutta and it appears from the said notice that one of the sites which was mentioned in the said notice was 121/17, Beliaghata Main Road, Calcutta- 700 010 or its vicinity. It is obvious that pursuant to the said notice, the respondent Nos. 7 and 8 applied for grant of the said licence in respect of the said advertisement against 121/17, Beliaghata Main Road, Calcutta-700 010.