The Bombay High Court in the case K. Raj & Company & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra and Ors observed and has ordered the Additional Chief Secretary, Maharashtra Excise Department, for conducting an inquiry into excise officials who seized a company’s ethanol despite it not being a contraband as per Bombay Prohibition Act.
The Division bench comprising of Justice GS Kulkarni and Justice Jitendra Jain in the case observed wherein the writ plea is moved that the excise officials appeared to have acted on the behest of the petitioner company’s competitors and has harmed the reputation of petitioner’s and business interest.
The court in the case held that from what has been urged before us on behalf of the intervenors, as also seen from the contents of the newspaper reports and the wide publicity which has been given to the seizure in question, labelling the petitioners to have indulged in illegal activities in dealing with ethanol, that this is clearly at the behest of the petitioners’ competitors and such kind of situation as brought about by the illegal seizure at the hands of the Excise officers would amount to not only a gross illegality but bring about a situation of absolute lawlessness in exercise of solemn public duties by such officials.
The court in the case observed and has deprecated the officers’ high-handedness by publishing photos of the boxes of ethanol with excise officers in the newspapers, while making it look like illegal materials which were seized from the petitioner company.
The court observed that it was certainly most objectionable for the officers to pose themselves in photographs in projecting that the petitioners in the case were dealing in prohibited goods and this is certainly neither a part of their duties, nor permissible under the Bombay Prohibition Act or under the Rules under which they were supposed to act.
In the present case, the court was dealing with the writ petition moved by chemical importer K Raj & Company wherein it challenged the seizure of goods by state excise authorities.
The counsel, Advocate Shah appearing for the petitioner contended before the court that the seizure, which took place in December 2023, was in direct violation of the court’s prior order dated November 4, 2023 and the coordinate benches of 2021 ruling in another writ petition.
On the other hand, the counsel, Advocate Shruti Vyas for the State Excise Department stated that the State Excise Department did not intend to persist with the seizure. Thus, she assured the court that the seized goods and the vehicle would be released immediately.
The court observed that the officials had prima facie not acted bona fide and had abused their powers under the Bombay Prohibition Act.
The court while considering the facts and circumstances of the case observed and has directed the inquiry to be completed within three weeks and sought the report on January 9, 2024.
The said court emphasized that if the inquiry reveals the involvement of the concerned officials, the appropriate civil and criminal actions should be initiated against them.
Further, the court allowed the Additional Chief Secretary to move the State Government to pass appropriate orders which includes suspending officials pending inquiry if there was prima facie material against them.