Will close all liquor shops in hill stations, warns HC

Court wants Tasmac to come up with a buyback scheme for glass bottles which injure animals

The Madras High Court on Monday warned Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) that it would order closure of all retail liquor shops operated in the hill stations if it does not come up with an effective solution by April 25 to prevent its customers from littering the glass bottles in forest areas thereby endangering the life of wild animals.

Justices V. Bharathidasan and N. Sathish Kumar suggested the Tasmac to come up with an attractive buy back scheme by which the customers could be given an incentive of around ₹10 for returning the bottles. They said that maintaining kiosks for returning the bottles without any monetary gain might not prove to be as effective as offering a small incentive.

Amicus curiae M. Santhanaraman told the court that many customers of Tasmac in the Nilgiris and Kodaikanal take the liquor bottles for consumption inside forest areas. They leave the bottles behind causing threat to the animals, especially the elephants. When the pachyderms step on those glass pieces and get injured, they die within three months due to the infection, he said.

Taking serious note of such submission, the judges insisted that Tasmac should exhibit some concern towards the wildlife too apart from concentrating on making profits through sale of liquor. They expressed their displeasure over the corporation not having come up with any concrete plan so far though it was two years since the Nilgiris Collector wrote to it regarding the issue.

Earlier, another amicus curiae T. Mohan brought to the notice of the court that afforestation has been listed as one of the works that could be carried out under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and therefore the tribals in the western ghats could be engaged under the scheme for eradication of exotic and invasive species.

Accepting his submission, the Division Bench asked Additional Solicitor General R. Sankaranarayanan to appear before them on Tuesday so that he could take notice on behalf of the Centre and obtain instructions by April 25 on granting MGNREGS funds for eradicating exotic and invasive species from the western ghats and restoring the shola (tropical montane) forests.

The judges said that there could be no reason for the Centre to deny MGNREGS funds for the work since afforestation had specifically been listed as one of the works and what was being planned by the State forest department, on the directions of the High Court, was not only to eradicate the exotic and invasive species but also plant the indigenous species in the western ghats.