Academic challenge to temporary liquor licence notices ends as court allows fresh excise policy exercise and future licensing.

Temporary JKEL-2 liquor licences issued under the excise policy were challenged along with cancellation notices and a request for regularisation, but the Court treated the controversy as largely academic because the licences had run for a limited term and the matter had remained pending under interim orders for years. Rather than decide the legality of the impugned notices on merits, it disposed of the petitions and permitted the State to review the excise policy, identify locations afresh, and issue licences for the next licensing year in accordance with the policy adopted.

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Issues: Whether the challenge to the cancellation notices and the request for regularisation of temporary liquor licences still required adjudication, and whether the matter should instead be disposed of by directing a fresh policy exercise and fresh licences for the next licensing year.

Analysis: The petitions concerned temporary JKEL-2 licences granted on a fixed-term basis under the liquor licensing rules and arose in the background of a changing excise policy. The Court noted that the licences in question had been operative only for a limited period, that the dispute had remained pending for many years because of interim orders, and that any discussion on the legality of the impugned notices would now have only academic value. In that situation, the Court considered it just and appropriate to conclude the matters by permitting the State to review the excise policy if it so desired and to undertake a fresh exercise for identifying locations and issuing licences in accordance with the policy adopted.

Conclusion: The petitions were disposed of without deciding the challenged notices on merits, and the State was left free to carry out a fresh policy exercise and issue licences for the subsequent year.

Final Conclusion: The litigation was brought to an end on the footing that the controversy had become largely academic, while preserving the State's authority to restructure the excise regime and to proceed afresh for future licensing.

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