The Madras High Court on Monday said it could not allow the establishment of Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac)-run liquor shops inside bus stands even if there was no specific bar under the Tamil Nadu Liquor Retail Vending (In Shops and Bars) Rules of 2003, prohibiting location of such shops inside bus stands.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad said liquor shops were not supposed to be located inside bus stands on the sole ground of possible public nuisance. They also ordered that a Tasmac liquor shop supposedly located inside the Pallavaram bus stand here should be relocated immediately.
The interim order was passed on a public interest litigation petition filed by S.P. Gandhi, 52, a resident of Pallavaram, seeking a direction to Kancheepuram Collector and Tasmac district manager to close down a liquor shop in the premises of the Pallavaram bus stand and to restrain them from opening another shop on the way to the Pallavaram railway station.
During the course of the hearing, the counsel for Tasmac claimed that the liquor shop was outside the Pallavaram bus stand and not inside it. However, the petitioner’s counsel refuted the claim stoutly and urged the court to even appoint an Advocate Commissioner to find out the exact location of the liquor shop. After hearing both sides, the judges adjourned the hearing to Friday and directed that the shop should be relocated immediately if it had been established inside the bus stand.
