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Pune Police Reprimanded By High Court For Forcing Shops To Close
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News18•06-10-2026, 16:46
Pune Police Reprimanded By High Court For Forcing Shops To Close
- •The Bombay High Court strongly criticized the Pune police for forcibly making shops close despite no legal prohibition against keeping them open 24 hours.
- •A division bench of Justice Suman Shyam and Justice Gautam Ankhad called the police orders unauthorized and lacking any valid legal basis.
- •The court was hearing a petition filed by shop owners from Katraj, Ambegaon, and Dhankawadi areas who faced police pressure to shut down after 10 PM.
- •The court stated that police actions contradicting government permissions to keep certain shops open 24 hours are anti-government and beyond their legal authority under the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act.
Key Questions Answered
The High Court criticized the Pune police for forcibly making shops close after 10 PM, stating that their actions were unauthorized and lacked any valid legal basis since certain shops are legally permitted to remain open 24 hours under the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act, 2017.
A shop owner from the Katraj, Ambegaon, and Dhankawadi areas of Pune filed the petition in the High Court after police forced their establishment to shut down.
According to the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017, there is no restriction on keeping authorized general and convenience stores open 24 hours, with exceptions limited to specific liquor shops, permit rooms, bars, or cinemas.
