No HC relief for highway liquor shops

The Bombay High Court today refused to pass any immediate direction on petitions filed by owners of liquor shops along highways against the order to close down.
A vacation bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and A M Badar said the petitions would be posted for hearing on June 7, before a regular bench.
"We are not going to pass orders without (hearing) the state's stand. Heavens are not going to fall in four days," said Justice Colabawalla.
Owners of liquor outlets from Thane, Pune, Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara districts have moved the court against orders of the collectors/excise superintendents directing them to shut the shop forthwith.

The orders followed the Supreme Court's ban on liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways from April 1.
The petitioners have claimed that the apex court's order did not apply to them as these shops were located along state roads and not highways.