HC: Mad rush at Tasmac shops, shut them till lockdown is lifted

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:  09.05.2020

Livid over the chaos at liquor shops across the state, the Madras high court on Friday indicted authorities for blatant violation of conditions laid down by it to resume liquor sale on May 7, and ordered immediate closure of all shops till end of the lockdown.

“The online sale recommended by this court was not even put to test. The social or physical distancing norms and wearing of masks were not followed. Number of bottles to be sold to each buyer, as restricted by this court, was also flouted. The selling conditions based on age, as mentioned in the guidelines, were also not followed. And the Supreme Court on Friday observed that sates should consider home delivery of liquor/indirect sale during lockdown,” said a division bench of Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana while passing interim orders on a batch of petitions through video-conferencing on Friday.

Welcoming the verdict, Makkal Neethi Maiyam chief and actor Kamal Haasan in a tweet attributed it to the voices of women in Tamil Nadu.

The judges, in their order, said it is open to the state government and Tasmac to homedeliver liquor during the lockdown, and the 30,000-odd contractual employees of the state vendor could be used for the purpose after due medical examination.

There is currently no legal provision for home-delivery of alcohol in the country, except in West Bengal and Punjab. Tamil Nadu can make appropriate amendments to rules to build a technology-based home delivery model to promote responsible consumption of alcohol.

“It is brought to the notice of this court that about 3,850 shops across the state were opened, and there was a record sale of ₹175 crore. The above scenario reported after day one of the reopening only go to show that the state machinery is out of control either in disciplining the crowd or even in the process of sales,” HC said.

SC: Booze can be home-delivered

The Supreme Court on Friday suggested that the Centre could look at home delivery or indirect sale of liquor to stop crowding and refused to entertain a PIL seeking a fresh ban on liquor sale. The petitioner, G Natarajan, told a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan 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. P7

‘Mad rush without following norms will lead to surge in new clusters’

The judges said they were startled by photos, videos and reports in the media, and added deploying police personnel to control crowded tipplers would also put police personnel’s lives at risk, besides preventing them from discharging their duties in places where their services are really required.

“Now what worries this court is this mad rush for liquor by thousands of people without following any norms prescribed by the state, Tasmac authorities or by this court, would only lead to witnessing the form of surge of new clusters as opined by epidemiologists and public health experts,” they said.

The judges took note of the mad rush of people at Koyambedu wholesale market that had to be closed after it emerged as a super-spreader of Covid-19 cases, and said Tasmac shops should not become similar clusters. They also referred to media reports on spike in domestic violence cases and death of four people after Tasmac shops were reopened.

The judges then adjourned the case to May 14 for further proceedings.