The Gujarat High Court has said that a bunch of petitions challenging Gujarat’s prohibition laws are maintainable. The petitions will now be heard on October 12.
The petitions had challenged the liquor prohibition in Gujarat on the grounds of the right to privacy. The state had opposed the litigation on the grounds that it wasn’t maintainable.
A division bench led by Chief justice Vikram Nath had initially posted the matter for further hearing on September 12 but then moved it to October 12 after Advocate General Kamal Trivedi sought more time
It is believed that the state may challenge the order in the Supreme Court.
The set of petitions against the Prohibition Act was challenged on the grounds of the right to privacy. The petitions said the rule violated the right which has been held as a fundamental right by the Supreme Court.
The petitions had also challenged several sections of the act which granted drinking permits on health grounds and to tourists from outside the state arguing that the state was deciding who gets to drink and who does not and was thus essentially also violating the Right to Equality granted by the constitution.
The state had in earlier arguments countered it by saying that the right to privacy is not “like a bull in a China shop”.
It further argued that the state interfering in controlling the consumption of liquor cannot be equated as interference in individual food habits.
This came in response to the petitioner’s argument that if the state can control the consumption of liquor in the privacy of an individual’s home it might as well decide what people should consume at their homes.
The advocate general had argued that tomorrow someone may want the freedom to take drugs within their homes. It had argued that the right to privacy was subject to reasonable restrictions.
