Supreme Court lifts freeze on 97 Chandigarh liquor vends

The Supreme Court recently set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s interim order that had stalled the functioning of 97 liquor vends across Chandigarh for the financial year 2025–26 [Sahil Garg vs. Vault Liquor Limited & Ors. Etc.].A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan said the High Court had granted interim relief without recording any reasons even though the order effectively froze all allotments under the excise policy for the new financial year.“We would have expected the High Court to at least record some reason(s), howsoever brief, evincing application of mind to the contentions urged on behalf of the writ petitioners in support of their prayer. Unfortunately, the High Court has recorded no such satisfaction,” the apex court said..The Supreme Court was hearing appeals filed by the Chandigarh Administration and allottees against the High Court’s interim stay.The controversy arose from the Chandigarh Administration’s tendering process for liquor vends for the financial year 2025–26. Contractors alleged that over 87 out of 97 vends were cornered by just two or three entities operating under different names or through associates and employees.One of the key petitioners before the High Court, M/S Kler Wines, contended that the tender process was a sham and violated fair competition principles..On March 26, the High Court passed a status quo order restraining licensees from operating liquor vends beyond March 31. This effectively froze all 97 liquor outlets that had been awarded licenses via e-auction under the 2025–26 excise policy.The Supreme Court, while setting aside that direction, emphasised that interim reliefs of this nature cannot be passed casually. .However, the Court did not comment on the merits of the case, which include allegations of cartelisation and violation of competition norms. It directed all parties to complete pleadings within two weeks and asked the High Court to hear and decide the petitions immediately thereafter.The Court also said that if for any reason, the High Court is unable to dispose of the petitions by the end of the month, it may pass an interim order—but only if supported by cogent reasons.Importantly, the Court clarified that the allottees of liquor vends cannot claim any equity when the High Court takes up the case for final hearing."We make it clear that at the stage of final hearing, the appellants who are the allottees shall not claim any equity in their favour and the High Court shall be free to decide the writ petition based on the merits of the rival contentions" the Court noted in its order. .Solicitor General Tushar Mehta along with advocates Kanu Agrawal, Bhuvan Kapoor, Krishna Kant Dubey and Shreekant Neelappa Terdal appeared for the Chandigarh Administration.Senior Advocate Aryaman Sundaram along with advocates Pranav Krishna, Naresh Jain, Varun Dewan, Jaigopal Yadav, RS Lakshman, Yadwinder Singh, and Sahil Garg appeared for the allottees. Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi along with Advocates Aseem Chaturvedi, Amit Bhandari and Arsh Alok of Khaitan & Co appeared for other successful allottees.Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi, PS Patwalia, Puneet Bali and Pragyan Pradip Sharma along with advocates Natasha Dalmia, Devanshi Singh, Aditya Soni, Hardik Jain, Rustam Chaudhuri, Shambhavi Singh and Chritarth Palli appeared for the original petitioners (respondents in Supreme Court). .[Read Order]