“Dry day” only until declaration of election results: HC

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday ruled that liquor won’t be allowed to be sold in Mumbai on June 4 only until the Lok Sabha election results are declared. The order modifies the directive issued by the Mumbai city collector stating the whole of June 4 as a dry day.The order was issued by a vacation bench comprising Justice NR Borkar and Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan, after noting that a similar order had previously been issued by another bench in response to a comparable notification from the Raigad district collector. The Association of Owners of Hotels, Restaurants, Permit Rooms, and Bars had recently challenged the dry day orders declared by the Mumbai city and suburban collectors for June 4, the parliamentary election counting day. They highlighted that illicit liquor manufacturers and bootleggers exploit such dry day mandates to sell illegal alcohol, thereby profiting significantly when authorized outlets are closed.Thadani requested the court to modify the collectors’ orders, allowing establishments to resume liquor sales after the election results are announced. During Friday’s hearing, Additional Government Pleader Jyoti Chavan informed the court that the Mumbai Suburban collector had already adjusted its notification to limit the dry day to the announcement of results.