Now, its mandatory for Collectors to consider objection to location of liquor shops, Tamil Nadu govt. tells HC

T.N. liquor retail vending rules of 2003 have been amended, it says

Residents protesting against a liquor shop in Coonoor. Representational image. | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The State government on Monday informed the Madras High Court of having amended the Tamil Nadu Liquor Retail Vending (In Shops and Bars) Rules of 2003 on Sunday thereby making it mandatory for Collectors to consider objections received with regard to location of liquor shops before approving the location.

The submission was made before a Full Bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari, Justice C.V. Karthikeyan and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu. The Bench was seized of a reference made by a Division Bench for an authoritative pronouncement on the persuasive value of resolutions passed by Village Panchayats against location of liquor shops.

Senior counsel N.L. Rajah and M. Ajmal Khan argued that the local bodies too fall under the definition of State and hence the resolutions passed by them against location of a liquor shop must be considered binding upon the Collector. They said that the opposition of the residents to the location of a liquor shop must be respected.

On the other hand, it was represented on behalf of the government that a Government Order issued by the Home, Prohibition and Excise (VI) Department on Sunday, on the basis of the interim orders passed by the Full Bench on January 24, had amended Rules 8 and 9 of the Tamil Nadu Liquor Retail Vending (In Shops and Bars) Rules of 2003.

As per the amendment to Rule 8, no State-run liquor shop through Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) should commence business unless the location of the shop had been approved by the Collector. Further, a proviso to the rule states that no such approval shall be granted unless the Collector had considered and disposed of objections, if any.

Similarly, Rule 9 relating to shifting or change of location of a liquor shop too had been amended and proviso had been added to it too making it mandatory for the Collectors to consider and dispose of representations objecting to the change in the location. Apart from these two amendments, the government had also inserted Rule 9A.

The new rule, providing appeal remedy, states that any person aggrieved against an order passed by the Collector either under Rule 8 or Rule 9 could prefer an appeal before the Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise within 30 days from the date of the receipt of the order. The Commissioner must dispose of the appeal within 60 days.

After recording the amendments made to the statutory rules, framed under the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act of 1937, the Full Bench held that there was no need to answer the reference. It directed the Registry to list the individual writ petitions before the Division Benches concerned for passing appropriate orders in those cases.