Renewal of liquor licence cannot be refused on alleged invalidity of original grant when renewal reasons are irrelevant or unrecorded.

A liquor licence renewal under Section 45 of the Bihar Excise Act cannot be refused on arbitrary or irrelevant grounds, and the authority must rely on reasons germane to renewal as recorded in the impugned order. The validity of the original grant could not be reopened at the renewal stage where that grant had not been challenged in time, and later factors such as payment of renewal fee or timeliness of the application could not be used to justify the refusal when they were not the basis of the order. The refusal based solely on alleged invalidity of the original grant was therefore unlawful, and the matter was remitted for reconsideration in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the licensing authority could refuse renewal of the liquor licence on the ground that the original grant of licence was allegedly invalid, and whether such refusal was legally sustainable.

Analysis: A licensee has no absolute right to renewal under Section 45 of the Bihar Excise Act, but renewal cannot be denied on arbitrary or irrelevant considerations. The authority must decide renewal on grounds germane to the renewal question, and its decision has to be tested on the reasons actually recorded in the impugned order. The validity of the original grant could not be reopened at the stage of renewal when that grant had not been challenged in time and the impugned order did not rest on subsequent relevant factors. Matters such as payment of renewal fee or timeliness of the application were not the basis of the impugned refusal and could not be relied upon to sustain it.

Conclusion: The refusal to renew the licence solely on the alleged invalidity of the original grant was unlawful, and the order was set aside with a direction for reconsideration of the renewal application in accordance with law.

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