Liquor dealers in Mizoram have taken Zoramthanga’s Mizo National Front (MNF) government to court for losses caused by extension of dry days initially meant for the Christmas season.
The MNF government had, in keeping with an election promise, banned the sale of liquor temporarily from December 21 last year to January 14. The ban on liquor sales was later extended till March 10.
On Thursday, the Mizoram Liquor Vendors’ Association and each owner of the State’s three bonded warehouses filed separate lawsuits in the Aizawl Bench of the Gauhati High Court seeking to know how their losses would be recovered and whether the government has any prohibition policy in place.
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“The court has set January 22 as the date of hearing and has asked the State government to produce the proceedings of the Cabinet meetings leading to the imposition of dry days.
After the first Cabinet meeting on December 18 last year, the government closed down nine State-run liquor outlets and declared dry days from December 21 to January 14 in view of Christmas and New Year celebrations. Republic Day and the local Chapchar Kut festival were the reasons cited for extending the dry day to March 10 after the second Cabinet meeting on January 10.
“The government has kept us in a limbo by not saying clearly whether we have to wind up. Extension of dry days has hit our business hard. We are maintaning our outlets, paying employees and taking care of other mounting expenses,” Francis Sailo, an Aizawl-based liquor vendor, told
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The vendors’ association and the warehouse owners hope the court would decide on whether or not to continue with the dry days.
The liquor dealders said the State government should have come out with an exit policy with a timeframe for them to phase out the business. The uncertainty has led to piling up of liquor stock since the dealers have to honour their permits for purchase till March this year.
According to the permits acquired, more than 100 trucks are expected to deliver liquor bottles within the current fiscal, they said.
Push from church
Under pressure from the influential church, total prohibition was first imposed via the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act in 1997 when Lal Thanhawla was the Chief Minister. The move, however, did not help his Congress party win the Assembly election the following year.
The Congress replaced total prohibition by controlled prohibition 18 years later through the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) Act of 2014. A few wine shops were accordingly opened in 2015 and the State government recorded an average ₹70 crore in annual revenue through sale of alcohol.
An unhappy church commissioned a study on the effects of alcohol on individuals and the Mizo society. A team of academics concluded in 2018 that the social cost of liquor was higher than the revenue earned.
Liquor dealers said that the liquor stock unsold since the imposition of the Zoramthanga government’s dry day order was worth more than ₹40 crore. “The government should either buy this stock or compensate us,” a dealer said.
The extended dry run has reportedly brought bootleggers back in the illegal liquor business. The price of a 750 ml bottle is learnt to have increased by more than 400% in the grey market.