The Supreme Court on Friday denied Kerala’s toddy sector interim relief from its nationwide ban on sale of ‘liquor’ within 500 metres along National and State highways.
To make matters worse for the toddy shop licensees and employees’ union, the Kerala government submitted in the court that toddy was indeed “liquor”. The ban has affected employees and families working in the sector.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra meanwhile asked the State government to make its position clear in an affidavit before the next date of hearing on January 8, 2018.
“We are really thinking what can be done,” Chief Justice Misra remarked.
The State, represented by senior advocate V. Giri, gave a guarded response to the toddy sector’s plea, saying “though the Kerala Abkari Act treats toddy differently, it is also liquor because it is extracted.”
Mr. Giri however added that toddy had only about 8% alcohol content in it.
“To be drunk, you need to drink at least five bottles of toddy,” senior advocate Raju Ramachandran and advocate Bina Madhavan, for the Toddy Shop Licensees Association, pitched in.
In spirited support, advocate V.K. Biju, for Vaikom Taluk Chethu Thozhilali Union (AITUC), referred to an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court by the Chief Welfare Fund Inspector, Toddy Welfare Fund Board, which is a statutory body established in 1970 by a State law.
“Toddy is a natural drink sourced from coconut trees in Kerala with such minuscule alcohol content that it cannot be clubbed with other forms of liquor of high alcohol content ... Toddy extracted from trees added with Ayurvedic medicine is traditionally served to women after delivery as a health drink as well,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit stares in the face of the Kerala government’s submission that toddy is liquor.
Mr. Ramachandran submitted that 1,000 of about 5,800-odd toddy shops in the State had been affected by the Supreme Court ban on sale along highways. About 200 shops had shifted off the highways, but 800 still remained.
Mr. Ramachandran contended that the ban was an additional burden on the toddy sector, which was already restricted from operating within 400 metres of educational institutions and places of worship in a topographically small State.
