SC stays HC order quashing liquor ban
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the operation of the Patna High Court judgement quashing the Bihar government’s law banning sale and consumption of all types of liquor in the state. A bench, comprising justices Dipak Misra and U.U. Lalit, issued notices to all respondents including some liquor manufacturers on whose plea the High Court had held as illegal and unconstitutional the Nitish Kumar government’s prohibition law and posted the matter for hearing after eight weeks.
Bihar government has challenged the HC verdict of September 30 which had quashed the notification banning consumption and sale of liquor in the state. However, after the law was set aside, the Nitish Kumar government came out with a new law banning the sale and consumption of liquor which was notified on the Gandhi Jayanti day on October 2.
BCCI not to release funds to state units
Cracking the whip on BCCI, Supreme Court on Friday slammed its President Anurag Thakur and veteran administrator Ratnakar Shetty for “undermining” the Lodha committee’s directions and asked it to stop disbursing funds to state units till they abided by the recommendations on reforms in “letter and spirit”.
Noting its “defiant and obstructionist” attitude, the apex court warned the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) against “precipitating” the issue and directed Thakur to explain by filing “personal affidavit” on the allegation “whether he had asked the CEO of the ICC to state that the appointment of Justice R.M. Lodha Committee was tantamount to government interference in the working of the BCCI”. Both Thakur and Shetty were directed by the apex court to file separate affidavits within 10 days before the matter is taken up for further hearing on October 17.
