In a sensational directive, the Supreme Court today has ordered a ban on all liquor shops on national as well as state highways across the country. The Apex court set a deadline of April 1, 2017 for expiry of all existing licences and directed the authorities to ensure strict compliance with its order.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur today also directed that such shops must be at least 500 metres away from highways. The bench also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao directed that all ads indicating presence of liquor vends will be prohibited on national and state highways.
The court was hearing petitions challenging various high court verdicts which held that liquor shops be located at a distance from state highways so that they are neither visible nor accessible to the commuters.
It asked chief secretaries of the state governments and police chiefs to chalk out a plan after deliberating with excise and municipal authorities to make sure all orders are implemented. The court highlighted the significance of road safety and menace of drunken driving while issuing the slew of directives on a bunch of matters arising from different high courts over grant of licenses for liquor shops along the highways.
Last week, the apex court had expressed concern over 1.5 lakh fatalities every year in road mishaps, saying it may direct closure of liquor vends on national and state highways across the nation, besides removal of the signages indicating their location. The bench had also expressed unhappiness over alleged inaction by various states in removing liquor shops alongside roads which give rise to drunken driving and consequential fatalities.
It had said that revenue generation cannot be a “valid reason” for a state or a Union territory to give licence for liquor shops on highways and the authorities should adopt a positive attitude to remove the menace. The bench had also rapped the Centre for not doing anything concrete for the last 10 years forcing the court to “step in”.
