HC asks govt to implement report on IMFL bars

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has asked the Tamil Nadu government to implement the recommendations of an advocate Commission on the issue of unlicensed bars at the liquor shops run by state-owned TASMAC.
The Bench suggested to the state government to implement the three recommendations of the two-member Advocate Commission, which looked into a complaint of unlicensed bars attached to IMFL retail shops run by Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC).
The commissioners had suggested that bars which operated without renewal of their licences should be sealed.
Besides, they also recommended that the bars should be maintained in a hygienic way and provided with safety measures including fire extinguishers.

M Mahaboob Fazil and V Malaiyendran were appointed as the advocate commissioners following a petition by a journalist V P Rajendran, in which he alleged that 30 bars were functioning in Dindigul District without proper licence,and the government was losing revenue to the tune of several crores.
He had prayed to the court to close the unlicensed bars and

open them with proper licence.
The Commissioner said the Dindigul District Collector Venkatachalam himself submitted that the bars which were functioning illegally had been identified and closed after the filing of the petition.
They said while some illegal bars were closed during the inspection, some others were in unhygienic conditions.

Justice R Sudhakar and Justice V S Velumani ordered the government to consider implementing the suggestions and closed the petition.