State Of West Bengal & Anr vs Madan Mohan Ghosh & Ors

The Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court's decision to grant foreign liquor off-shop licenses to respondents, despite their existing excise licenses, citing Rule 17 of the West Bengal Excise (Selection of New Sites and Grant of Licence for Retail Sale of Spirit and Certain Other Intoxicants) Rules, 1993. The Court found that the restrictions imposed by the Government Order of 2000 were not valid in light of the overriding effect of the 1993 Rules. The appeal by the State of West Bengal was dismissed, affirming the High Court's interpretation of the law.