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Judgment
Heard the learned counsel for the parties.
Three bottles of foreign liquor were allegedly
recovered from the house of the petitioner for which Rajgir P.S.Case
No. 144 of 2016 was registered under Section 47 (a) of the Excise
Act against the named accused persons. Subsequently Confiscation
Case No. 08 of 2017 was initiated and by order dated 27.07.2017 the
said house standing on Khesra No. 1547 under Khata No.17 an area
of 5 decimal has been confiscated along with the land.
The petitioner has challenged the aforesaid order in
this writ application on the ground that executive authority has no
power to confiscate in a preliminary manner, which is a power
exercisable by a judicial authority and the matter is already
subjudice before a larger Bench of this Court in LPA No.1647 of
2015 ( Baleshwar Roy V. The State of Bihar & Ors .). He further
submits that a Division Bench of this Court in Cr.W.J.C. No.605 of
2016 in similar circumstances has ordered unsealing of the
premises.
Learned counsel for the State-respondents prays for
time for seeking instruction and filing counter affidavit.
Considering the urgency of the matter and the
aforesaid binding precedent, let the respondent authorities
immediately unseal the premises of the petitioner and handover the
possession of the house to the petitioner.
With the aforesaid observation, this application
stands disposed of.