[Sameer Wankhede] Case cannot be listed urgently because influential person is party: Bombay High Court refuses urgent hearing

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to urgently hear a plea filed by Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer Sameer Wankhede challenging the revocation of his bar and restaurant licence..When the matter was mentioned before Justice Gautam Patel, he said,"This matter was not mentioned before us. Nobody mentioned it yesterday. We cannot put it in without it being mentioned. Is it only for few people that this system works.".The judge went on to clarify that just because a matter has received wide coverage in the press or that the person involved is influential, the Court is not obligated to hear the case urgently."If an influential person is there, then it gets listed the next day it is filed? We are not going to hear this...What is the great tearing urgency? What heavens are going to fall? Just because these two gentlemen have a war going on in the press does not mean we hear it," he said. .The Court said that it would list the matter after following procedure..The issue of cancellation of the licence of the establishment owned by Wankhede is connected with his ongoing feud with Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik. Based on Malik's letter the local excise department at Thane had initiated investigation against Wankhede's bar located in the Mumbai suburbs.The allegation was that Wankhede was a minor when he was granted a licence for the bar and restaurant in October 1997. He was 17 years old then, far below the minimum stipulated age of 21 years.After conducting an investigation, the excise department concluded that Wankhede was indeed a minor when the license was granted. It, therefore, sent a report to the District Collector, who then passed an order revoking the licence granted to Wankhede's bar..After the licence was revoked, the excise department filed a complaint with the Thane Police seeking registration of a first information report (FIR) against Wankhede for allegedly giving false information on affidavit to obtain a liquor licence by posing as an adult.The Thane Police registered an FIR against Wankhede for the offences of cheating, forgery and providing false information on oath under the Indian Penal Code..Wankhede has now filed two separate petitions before the High Court seeking the following reliefs:- A civil petition filed through Advocate Vishal and Veena Thadani challenging the order of the District Collector revoking his bar license.- A criminal petition filed through Rizwan Merchant & Associates to quash the FIR registered by the Thane Police..[Bar License issue] Sameer Wankhede moves Bombay High Court against FIR and license revocation