Table in Assembly Justice Mehta report on liquor tragedy: HC

The Gujarat High Court has asked the state government to table in the Assembly the Justice K M Mehta Commission report on the 2009 illicit liquor tragedy in Ahmedabad's Geeta Mandir area.
The court asked that the report of the Commission, set up in the aftermath of the tragedy which claimed 156 lives in the city, be tabled on the floor of the Gujarat assembly at the earliest, so that it could be discussed.
"If the purpose of appointing the Commission was to find out the truth, device policies or frame legislation to avoid recurrence of lapses, the state government should table the report on the floor of the assembly at the earliest so that its report could be discussed," a division bench comprising Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala said.

The court said it had no idea about conclusions drawn by the Commission and recommendations suggested by it.
"We have no idea as to what is the ultimate conclusion drawn by the Commission and what are the recommendations made to combat the menace, since the Commission report is not on record and it appears that it is yet to be tabled on the floor of the assembly," the bench said.
The court also lambasted the Gujarat government for poor implementation of the prohibition policy.
"We are of the view that, although the court may issue various directions to implement prohibition, it is the police machinery which should see to it that provisions of the Bombay Prohibition Act are implemented effectively," the bench said.

"Figures noted so far as the registration of cases under the Bombay Prohibition Act are concerned would indicate that the prohibition policy in the state has failed and the figures are really startling," the bench said, asking for stricter implementation of the prohibition law.