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SC to hear Bihar liquor manufacturers' plea todaySC to hear Bihar liquor manufacturers' plea today

The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned for Thursday the hearing on a plea of liquor manufacturers from Bihar seeking a clarification on its order granting time till July 31 to dispose old stocks of alcoholic beverages worth over Rs 200 crore outside the state.

The matter came up for hearing before a vacation bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and Deepak Gupta but the counsel for Bihar government was not present.

"The state has to be heard before we pass any order. This is an important matter," the bench said.

Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, representing the liquor manufacturers, told the apex court that they had informed the Bihar government's counsel about today's hearing.

Khurshid, who had mentioned the matter yesterday, had told the bench that the apex court's May 29 order spoke about time to destroy the stock but it did not indicate anything about its export.

In the May 29 order, the apex court had said, "Time to destroy/drain the stocks is extended up to July 31, 2017. It is made clear that no further extension will be granted in future."

Earlier, the court had extended till May 31 the deadline of April 30 for disposing of old stocks, including raw material, fixed by the Nitish Kumar government which had imposed a ban on liquor in the state from April 1 last year.
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