HC wants to know why liquor shops open before lunch time in TN

Questioning the functioning of government-run liquor outlets in Tamil Nadu even before lunch time, the Madras High Court has sought to know why they should not be opened from 2 PM.

"It is not known as to why the outlets are opened even before lunch hours... Why should not they be opened from 2 pm after lunch," the court said in a recent interim order.

It was referring to the timings of the outlets run by the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation, the sole retailer of Indian Made Foreign Liquor in the state, which function from 12 noon to 10 pm.

The observation was made by a division bench comprising justices N Kirubakaran and V Parthiban while directing the state DGP, city Commissioner of Police and the TASMAC to continue the crackdown on illegal bars and outlets across the state.

The court rejected a report filed by the DGP on the number of FIRs and arrests made in connection with the illegal bars, saying it was not convinced with the action taken so far.

Citing the report that said about 100 FIRs were registered and 81 people were arrested between April 18 and 23 April, the court said the raids were not conducted properly and that the action taken was not satisfactory.

On April 18, the court had ordered the officials and the TASMAC authorities to ensure by April 25 that there were no more illegal bars and liquor vends across the state.

The court had earlier issued the directive to raid the illegal bars and outlets based on a news report in an English daily that liquor trade was on round-the-clock in some parts of north Chennai.

The directive was issued during the hearing of two petitions, one seeking bail for 25 people who participated in an agitation against TASMAC shops and the other for a direction to close a liquor outlet in the city.