After the Delhi government imposed a special tax on the sale of liquor – a 70 percent ‘special corona fee’ – a batch of public interest litigations (PILs) were filed in the high court.
One of the PILs by Lalit Valecha mentions that the fee imposed by the Delhi government is in excess of what has been authorised by the law. Therefore, it is being collected arbitrarily.
The Delhi High Court on Friday, 15 May, sought the Delhi government’s response to the several pleas challenging the extra fee on the MRP of all liquor brands in the national capital.
A notice was issued to the government by Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar. They sought the government’s response by 29 May, to the petitions that want to set aside their earlier order made on 4 May to levy the fee.
A PTI report states that an interim stay has been declined by the court on the notification for now. They will wait for the AAP government’s reply said Lalit Valecha, one of the petitioners to PTI.
The government’s standing counsel Ramesh Singh accepted the notice, and said that a detailed reply to that would be filled, indicating that the extra fee was valid.
(With inputs from PTI)
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