SC directs ban on liquor vends on National and State Highways

The Supreme Court of India has directed to ban the sale of liquor on all State and National Highways. Headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, the Supreme Court bench ordered that all the licenses of liquor shops in and around the national and state highways across the country would be closed.

However, the SC bench said that the bars and liquor shops can continue to operate till the period that the licenses are valid but their licenses won't be renewed.

The decision is likelt to affect the liquor sales in India with many bars and outlets located at the highways. Last week, the SC bench came down heavily on the states for not following the Centre's advice of not allotting licenses to the vends on the highways and pointed out the number of licenses in the states, in fact have increased.