Patna HC slams Nitish Kumar government, says piling liquor cases a burden on judiciary

The Patna High Court on Friday slammed the Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar for piling on liquor prohibition related cases on the court calling in "a burden on the judiciary." A bench comprised of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh stated that the court is already burdened with over 2 lakh prohibition-related cases, out of which 90% of them have already got bail from the High Court. Hence such cases were putting a huge burden on the judiciary and added that it will no more bear the burden of the same. The court also asked the Chief Secretary to explain the measures taken by the state government to deal with the mounting cases.

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"In how many such cases has the state government appealed the high court's order in the Supreme Court? How does the government feel the burden of two lakh cases? It is like an emergency. There is a lot of hindrance in the disposal of other cases in our lower courts," the judges told advocate general Lalit Kishore. 

Recently one of the RJD leaders in Bihar was arrested over putting up an "objectionable and derogatory" post about Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's liquor ban drive on the social media. RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's younger son Tejashwi Yadav slammed the media in another Twitter post. "Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's close aides consume liquor in violation of the prohibition law. Liquor mafia roams freely in his official residence. Now let the Bihar police arrest me on this account," he tweeted. 

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On Friday the Patna HC also sought to know what actions the state will take towards going through the cases filed in the apex court challenging the enforcement of the prohibition law in the state. In 2016, the Bihar government had put a ban on country liquor from April 1 while banning the consumption of any alcohol six months later. Ban on sale and consumption of liquor was imposed in the state while the RJD was part of the ruling coalition and Yadav the Deputy CM. 

(With Agency Inputs)