The Supreme Court today has allowed the Tamil Nadu Government to devise methods to sell liquor either online or through physical shops.

The bench comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice Sanjay KishanKaul and Justice MR Shah was hearing a petition filed by Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) challenging the order passed by the Madras High Court closing liquor shops in the State.

The bench observed that it is for the State Government to decide the manner in which the liquor is to be sold and accepted TASMAC’s contention that it cannot be instructed to sell liquor only through online means and home deliveries.

The division bench of Madras High Court comprising of Justice Vineet Kothari & Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayanan, ordered the closure of liquor shops and alcohol vending shops till lifting of lockdown on observing huge crowd is gathering outside retail outlets and blatantly violating the norms setup by the TASMAC.

The Tamil Nadu Government on May 6, issued order permitting opening of TASMAC shops in order to increase already falling revenues due to lockdown. This lead to gathering of huge crowds and queues outside retail shops leading to violation of social distancing norms to contain spread of COVID-19.

The Madras High Court in its order had observed that, “it is open to the State and the TASMAC to resort to only home delivery of the liquor by indirect sale during this lockdown period, viz., online booking of order for liquor and by putting the required system in place in the manner in which, they can sell the liquor and make home delivery in the above manner. As it is stated that there are 30,000 contractual employees available with the TASMAC, we are of the opinion that there cannot be any difficulty in undertaking the above exercise of indirect sales and home delivery either through their own employees or by outsourcing such supplies of liquor. While ordering so, it is made clear that the TASMAC shall ensure that the persons undertaking the delivery work have undergone necessary safety medical tests and they are complying with all the protocols for the prevention of spreading of COVID-19, and they should put into necessary medical tests at regular intervals.”

-India Legal Bureau

The Supreme Court of India on Friday stayed the order of Madras High Court which directed the closure of all liquor shops due to huge crowd gathering outside retail outlets and blatant violation of norms setup by the TASMAC.

The Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) has filed an appeal before Supreme Court challenging the order passed by the division bench of Madras High Court only a day after it has closed the liquor shops.

Shri Mukul Rohatgi, Senior Advocate appearing for the TASMAC said that the restrictions had been imposed for violation of social distancing, sanitising norms and the High Court passed its own guidelines beyond the jurisdiction. He said that we can sell two liquor bottles online and through retail outlets more can be sold. Also, it is the prerogative of state to decide how to sell the liquor and not that of High Court. He raised objections on online delivery of liquor as the same could lead to adulteration and other issues. He insisted that the Supreme Court must stay the impugned order as the High Court cannot pass such orders.

Counsel appearing for the respondent said that liquor is not a fundamental right but a commercial activity and they are not seeking complete ban on liquor. The Tamil Nadu Government on 6^th of May issued order permitting opening of TASMAC shops in order to increase already falling revenues due to lockdown. This lead to gathering of huge crowds and queues outside retail shops leading to violation of social distancing norms to contain spread of COVID-19.

Acting upon the plea, the bench consisting of Justice L. Nageswara Rao, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul & Justice B. R. Gavai, granted the interim relief and stayed the impugned order passed by Madras High Court.

-India Legal Bureau

The Madras High Court on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rupees Twenty Thousand on an advocate for filing frivolous petition and directed to deposit the fine amount in Chief Minister Public Relief Fund within one week.

The petitioner herein is a practising advocate, has filed the instant interest litigation petition, seeking a direction to the State Government to develop a Mobile App and Website for selling liquors before opening of all the retail liquor selling shops of Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Ltd (TASMAC) throughout Tamil Nadu and also sought directions to TASMAC to stop all cash sales.

The Additional Advocate General said that the petitioner is in the habit of filing such frivolous public interest litigation petitions and earlier in one such writ petition, a cost of Rs.10,000/- was imposed by the court  upon him, to dissuade him to file such frivolous so called public interest writ petitions for whatever extraneous reasons he may have. He has not disclosed this fact in the present writ petition. Upon the initial observations made by the court, the petitioner sought leave of the court to withdraw this writ petition.

The case was heard by the division bench comprising of Justice Vineet Kothari & Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, who observed that such a series of alleged Public Interest Litigation writ petitions are filed unnecessarily by a professional and a practising Advocate, thus were constrained to observe that filing of such frivolous petitions are nothing but wasting the time of the court rather than serving a real cause of public relating to TASMAC liquor sale and the same have been dealt with by this court in the earlier batch of writ petitions and therefore, the High Court did not found any reason for the petitioner to keep on filing fresh public interest litigations for the same cause.

The Madras High Court in order to effectively dissuade the petitioner from filing such kind of petitions unnecessarily, imposed a cost of Rs.20,000/- on the petitioner and directed him to deposit in the Chief Minister Public Relief Fund, within a period of one week.

Before parting away the bench said that “We expect the petitioner to observe a sense of professionalism while espousing the public cause in the public interest litigation petitions, in future.”

-India Legal Bureau

The division bench of Madras High Court comprising of Justice Vineet Kothari & Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayanan, on Friday ordered the closure of liquor shops and alcohol vending shops till lifting of lockdown on observing huge crowd is gathering outside retail outlets and blatantly violating the norms setup by the TASMAC.

The Tamil Nadu Government on 6^th of May issued order permitting opening of TASMAC shops in order to increase already falling revenues due to lockdown. This lead to gathering of huge crowds and queues outside retail shops leading to violation of social distancing norms to contain spread of COVID-19.

The Madras High Court in its order observed that, “it is open to the State and the TASMAC to resort to only home delivery of the liquor by indirect sale during this lockdown period, viz., online booking of order for liquor and by putting the required system in place in the manner in which, they can sell the liquor and make home delivery in the above manner. As it is stated that there are 30,000 contractual employees available with the TASMAC, we are of the opinion that there cannot be any difficulty in undertaking the above exercise of indirect sales and home delivery either through their own employees or by outsourcing such supplies of liquor. While ordering so, it is made clear that the TASMAC shall ensure that the persons undertaking the delivery work have undergone necessary safety medical tests and they are complying with all the protocols for the prevention of spreading of COVID-19, and they should put into necessary medical tests at regular intervals.”

-India Legal Bureau