Madhya Pradesh High Court dismisses PIL to shift liquor shop situated in front of co-ed school having a temple on campus

The Madya Pradesh High Court, Indore Bench recently dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking to shift a liquor shop situated in front of a school having a temple within its premises.

While rejecting the plea, a division bench of Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Amar Nath Kesharwani observed that the temple situated within the campus of Agarawal Public School would not fall under the definition of “religious institution,” defined as:

Explanation-(b)- ''Religious Institution'' means an institution for the promotion of any religion and includes a temple, math, mosque, church, or other places of public religious worship which is managed or owned by a public trust registered under the Madhya Pradesh Public Trusts Act, 1951 or any other enactment for the time being in force and shall include such other religious institutions as the State Government may by order specify in this behalf.

According to the petitioner, a local residents association, the liquor shop is located directly in front of a co-ed school namely Agrawal Public School and the distance between the two was 22-25 meters.

Petitioner stated that Rule 2 of Rules 2018 prohibits that no shop for the sale of liquor shall not be situated up to a distance of 50 meters from a lawful religious institution, girls' school, girls-college, and lawful girls hostel.

It is further claimed that the students from nursery to 12th standard attend the school, which operates from 8 am to 5:00 pm. As the liquor store opens at 9 am, and due to similar timing and close proximity, it is causing a nuisance in society and locality.

Furthermore, it is stated that the petitioner’s society made a complaint to the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, but no action was taken.

Court noted that the petitioner is an association of local residents, and in the entire policy and Rules 2018, there is no such prohibition for the establishment of a liquor shop near a residential area, and Rule 2 only applies to lawful religious institutions, girls' schools, girls colleges, and lawful girls hostels.

Accordingly, Court ordered that if Agrawal Public School has a grievance, they can file a petition before the High Court, but the petitioner cannot file a petition at the request of Agrawal Public School to seek the relocation of the shop, and thus dismissed the petition.

CASE TITLE: SHIVNERI SAHIL EMPIRE RAHWASI RAKHRAKHAV SAHAKARI SANSTHAN MARYADIT v. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND ORS.