TS, AP LIQUOR TRADERS GET BREATHER, PLAN SURVIVAL ALONG HIGHWAYS

For the rest of India, there will be a ban on sale of liquor along 500 meters distance on the national and state highways from Saturday, April 1. But, those in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will have free run till June 30 and September 30 respectively, on the ground that their present license expire by that time. This will fetch them revenue of around Rs 10,000 crore.

This is a big breather to the liquor traders who were agitated over shutting their shops along the national and state highways which are the major source of income for them. Even the governments in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were dismayed over implementing the SC’s earlier order on December 15, 2016 as it would have entailed them to refund the license fee to shop owners for the remaining period of six months.

The presence license time in Andhra Pradesh is up to June 30, while in Telangana it is September 30. If the earlier order of SC was implemented, both the states would have been forced to return around Rs 2,000 crore to the liquor shops, bar and restaurants and pubs owners. That is one of the reasons why both the state governments indirectly backed the liquor traders in the SC case. The three member SC bench headed Chief Justice JS Khehar which modified its previous verdict on Friday allowed the shops and restaurants in Telangana and AP till their licenses expired and reduced the distance to 220 meters from 500 meters in case of towns below population of 20,000. Three hilly states of Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Sikkim are exempted from the ruling. “We are happy that the apex court had permitted us to run the shops for six more months by when we will find out ways to relocate our shops to alternate areas,” said Telangana retail liquor shops association joint secretary MS Reddy while talking to The Sunday Guardian on phone from Delhi Saturday. His association is one of the petitioners before the top court.