An Indian Made Foreign Liquor manufacturer has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) and the government among others to frame guidelines for placing supply orders and indent with foreign liquor manufacturers and fix a reasonable retail price to sell liquor brands without the element of profiteering. The guidelines should be framed on the basis of scientific and commercial data and consumer choice. A fair and transparent procedure should be adopted for placing the supply orders with manufacturers, including the petitioner.
Justice R. Subbiah ordered notice on the petition.
The petitioner, Golden Vats Pvt. Ltd., of Gopalapuram here, said its manufacturing unit was located at Karnavur near Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district. It submitted that the manufacturing cost had exceeded the price fixed by Tasmac, thereby the ordinary and medium brands were a loss to the petitioner.
Due to placing of orders of premium brands, the company was in a position to bear the loss. However, Tasmac had fixed the retail price at 600 per cent more than the manufacturer’s price. This unchecked high retail price was passed on to consumers.
