SC to hear petitions against ban on liquor shops along highways today

The Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday a score of petitions seeking modification of its December 15 order banning the sale of alcohol within 500-metre radius of the state and national highways from April 1.

An assurance to this effect came from Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar on Tuesday on a battery of lawyers representing the concerned state governments and Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi seeking amendment in the ban as it would deprive thousands of the livelihood. The ban order was slapped by the Court following its concern over the road safety endangered by the menace of drunken driving.

"If Justice D Y Chandrachud is not available tomorrow (Wednesday), then I will constitute a separate bench," the CJI said when the Attorney General pleaded for an urgent hearing in view of the Court order on closure of the liquor vends alongside the highways coming into effect in another four days.

The liquor shop owners of Mahe district in Puducherry had unsuccessfully tried on January 13 to persuade the Court to suspend its order at least for a year as they had valid licences. Instead, the Court asked the state authorities not to grant any new licences or renew the licences after March 31, 2017, for the liquor vends on the highways in the light of its December 15 order.

It is now the turn of the state governments of Kerala, Punjab and Telangana approaching the SC to modify its order, citing the litigations they will face for shutting the liquor shops despite having the valid licences. Their plea is that the ban should be effective on new shops.