New Plea In Supreme Court Against Madras HC Order Permitting Online Sale Of Liquor [Read Petition]

The SLP has been filed through Advocate K. Paari Vendhan against the High Court order dated May 8, whereby a division bench comprising Justices Vineet Kothari and Pushpa Satynarayana permitted online sale of liquor, taking note of huge crowd situation in TASMAC outlets selling alcohol bottles in retail.

As per the Petitioner, the impugned order is liable to be quashed as it is in direct contravention of the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Direction of National Disaster Management Act on May 1, 2020, as per which e-commerce activities are permitted only for "essential items", outside the contaminated zones.

It is stated that liquor/ wine are not "essential Commodities" under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and hence, the impugned order is antithetical to public interest.

In fact, the Petitioner has pointed out that the SLP filed by the State Government against the impugned order also acknowledges that online sale of liquor is "not feasible as it is unworkable and evidently against the public interest".

"Impugned order allowing sale via argument of the State Government of achieving economic re-stabilization through selling liquor to its own citizens, that too at the middle of this Pandemic should reject at the threshold outrightly as it is fallacious, illogical to the data and unethical," the plea states.

In view thereof, the Petitioner has sought that the impugned order be stayed, only qua the sale of Liquor through online and home delivery.

The Petitioner is however in consensus with the other part of the impugned order regarding closure ofNliquor shops, stating that the same will let social distancing norms to prevail.

He has further argued that consuming Alcohol would lead to the severe health consequences, including increased risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), one of the most severe complications of COVID-19, as reported by the World Health Organization.

Moreover, the Petitioner has highlighted the colossal damage caused due to re-opening of liquor shops in the state, causing overcrowding of the people in front of the Wine Shops/ Outlets.

He has asserted that social distancing norms were "deliberately flouted" by the State of Tamil Nadu, by failing to handle such overcrowding.

"Most of the Public who came to the Wine Shops/ Outlets did not wear any masks and the Police Personals did not take any actions against these people," the Petitioner submitted.

In this backdrop, he has sought a judicial enquiry to fix the responsibility for this "hurried opening of wine shops", when the state was not prepared to deal with the situation.

He has also prayed the court to impose exemplary cost on head of TASMAC, for causing irreparable loss to the Public and the Government, which cost to be deposited in any appropriate fund preferably for the Destitute Widow Pension Scheme of State of Tamil Nadu.

Notably, the impugned order has also been challenged by the state-owned TASMAC against the direction close all liquor shops.

A batch of similar petitions challenging the May 8 order are also pending before the Madras High Court., which will be heard today by a bench comprising Chief Justice A P Sahi, Dr.Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice PN Prakash.

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