Court News

TO AVOID CROWDING

Liquor could be home delivered or sold indirectly, suggests SC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi  09.05.2020

: Worried by the large number of people throwing social distancing norms to the wind and jostling at liquor vends as soon as they opened after a long break, the Supreme Court on Friday suggested that the Centre could look at possible home delivery or indirect sale of liquor to prevent crowding.

Arguing for PIL petitioner G Natarajan, advocate Sai Deepak told a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan that a fresh ban on liquor should be enforced as the experience showed that people were ready to put their lives at risk by breaching social distancing norms.

He said long queues before liquor vends, where people often jostled with each other to maintain their position, put public health at risk given the contagious nature of Covid-19. He said liquor vends appeared few in number given the large number of people descending to purchase alcohol the moment stores were opened. He requested the court to issue a direction to the home ministry to issue a clarification on liquor sale guidelines.

The bench said it was not inclined to entertain the PIL but observed that to keep people safe from infecting each other, the government could consider indirect sale of liquor or home delivery.

Declare your medical history, tipplers told before buying booze

—Mohd Dilshad

Muzaffarnagar: Those visiting liquor shops in Muzaffarnagar were on Friday seen searching for pens instead, as they were told to fill a form giving details about their age, health condition and the amount of alcohol they were planning to take home.

In a rather unique initiative, the administration in this western UP district is seeking the details from liquor buyers to make sure that people are not hoarding the booze and no unhealthy person is getting it.