A Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday stayed the operation of an order passed by a single judge on January 31 directing Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) to close down all “bars” attached to its retail liquor shops within six months since there were no clear-cut legal provisions for their operation.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy granted the interim stay after being prima facie satisfied with the submission of Advocate-General R. Shunmugasundaram that the single judge had traversed beyond the scope of the writ petitions filed by those who sought contract for selling snacks in the “bars.”
While granting the stay on a writ appeal preferred by Tasmac, the first Division Bench also made it clear that the pendency of the writ appeal would not preclude the State government from bringing in appropriate amendments to the relevant laws in order to regulate the operation of the “bars”.
In his verdict, the single judge had doubted whether the enclosures put up next to the retail liquor shops could be termed “bars” in the strict sense since liquor was not being sold over there. The enclosure was only a place provided for customers to sit and consume the liquor purchased by them from adjacent shops.
He had pointed out that the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937, does not permit Tasmac to encourage consumption of liquor in places adjoining the liquor shops by granting licence to private individuals to sell snacks and collect empty bottles. He said Tasmac had no legal control over these “bars” because they were taken on lease by the private licensees.
Tasmac contended before the Bench that the single judge had failed to consider that the policy of allowing liquor consumption in the “bars” attached to the liquor shops was to save other citizens from the perennial disturbance of consuming in open places. It was a safeguarding measure taken by the State, it said.
It also claimed that the single judge had failed to appreciate the fact that sale of liquor was monopolised by the State government not with the aim of making profits but only to avoid deaths due to consumption of illegal and poisonous arrack and toddy. It was eventual that sale of liquor began to generate revenue for the government.
Stating that closure of bars would cause a huge financial loss to the government, Tasmac said, “The revenue generated from Tasmac is utilised for the welfare of the State and the downtrodden people.” It also claimed that if the bars were closed, consumers would begin drinking in public places causing nuisance to members of the public.
