Prohibition in Gujarat has always remained a contentious and debatable issue with successive governments, may that be the Congress or the BJP, supporting prohibition. 

In the past, Mahatma Gandhi’s Gujarat has witnessed hooch tragedies and, time and again several people have moved courts challenging prohibition. 

On Monday, the Gujarat High Court rejected objections by the state government against petitions that challenged liquor prohibition. One of the key contentions of the petitioners was that the ban on liquor was against Right to Privacy. 

A division bench of Justice Narendra Nath and Justice Biren Vaishnav rejected objections raised by the state government against the maintainability of the petitions. These petitions challenged the manufacture, sale and consumption of liquor as per Gujarat Prohibition Act, 1949. 

Final hearing on the merits will take place on October 12. 

The final hearing was initially posted for September 20. However, the High Court postponed it to October 12 following Advocate General Kamal Trivedi seeking time to explore the option of challenging it in the Supreme Court. 

The petitions have been filed by several people from Gujarat over the last couple of years. 

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