HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD WRIT TAX No. - 3909 of 2026 Court No. - 39 HON'BLE SAUMITRA DAYAL SINGH, J. HON'BLE SWARUPAMA CHATURVEDI, J. 1. Heard Sri N.C. Gupta, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Sri Arjit Gupta, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Ankur Agarwal, learned Standing Counsel for the revenue. 2. Present petition has been filed with the following relief: "(a) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of CERTIORARI quashing the impugned order dated 07.08.2026 passed by respondent no. 3 (Annexure No. 1); (b) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of MANDAMUS declaring the applicability of Amended Rules dated 21.01.2026 instead of Rules of 2018-19. (c) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of MANDAMUS commanding the respondents, their officers, servants and subordinates not to proceed further with, or give effect to, the e-lottery/re-settlement process initiated pursuant to Notification No. 545/Vyavasthapan/2026-27 dated 09.09.2026 in respect of Country Liquor Shop Sijwaha, District Mahoba, and not to allot the said shop to any person, during the pendency of the present writ petition." 3. At the outset, learned Senior Advocate has stated that though the petitioner had earlier raised challenge to the suspension order dated 05.04.2026, by filing Writ Tax No. 2215 of 2026 and had further raised Versus Counsel for Petitioner(s) : Arjit Gupta Counsel for Respondent(s) : C.S.C. Padamdhar .....Petitioner(s) State Of U.P. And 5 Others .....Respondent(s) challenge to the inquiry report submitted consequent to the suspension proceedings, by filing another Writ Tax No. 3566 of 2026, and though the present writ petition has been filed for the relief noted above, the petitioner wishes to confine the relief for decision on the petitioner's application seeking compounding of the infringement on the terms and conditions and the law governing the license issued to the petitioner, to run the country liquor shop. That application dated 09.09.2026 (Annexure no. 9 to the writ petition) is pending before the District Magistrate, Mahoba. 4. Learned Standing Counsel would contend that the said application is not maintainable, as the offence alleged, is non-compoundable. That position is again contested by learned Senior Advocate for the petitioner. 5. In view of the fact that the petitioner has filed a compounding application, implied admission of infringement of the law exists. Even otherwise, in view of the further contested position of facts i.e. whether 129 bottles of country liquor relatable to two other licensee namely, Rajeev Gupta & Asha Singh and 39 Beer cans relating to the other licensee Asha Singh have allegedly been found at the licensed vend of the petitioner, the challenge first raised to the suspension order and later to the inquiry report as also the cancellation order, may not survive for our consideration. 6. As to what is the exact violation and if the petitioner is entitled to seek compounding thereon, we leave those issues open. 7. Accordingly, the present writ petition is disposed of with liberty to the petitioner to press its compounding application dated 09.09.2026 (Annexure no. 9 to the writ petition), on its own strength. The State may remain within its right to object both on maintainability and merits of that application. 8. Appropriate order may be passed on the compounding application made by the petitioner, as expeditiously as possible, by means of speaking order, within a period of two week from today. 9. In the event of the compounding application being found not WTAX No. 3909 of 2026 2 maintainable or being rejected, in view of the observations made above, and keeping in mind the fact that the writ petition has remained pending for sometime, the petitioner would have a right to appeal against the cancellation order dated 07.08.2026, within a period of two weeks from the date of communication of such further order passed by respondent no. 3. 9. It is made clear, we have not gone into the merits of the issue or to the maintainability of the compounding application. September 29, 2026 #Vikram/- WTAX No. 3909 of 2026 3 (Swarupama Chaturvedi,J.) (Saumitra Dayal Singh,J.) Digitally signed by :- VIKRAM GUPTA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad