Supreme Court: No liquor at highway vends

Ban in Telangana will come into force on Sept 30

New Delhi: In a significant clarification on its previous judgement banning the sale of liquor within 500 metres of highways across the country, the Supreme Court here on Friday reduced the no-liquor zone from 500 metres to 220 metres in town with a population of 20000 or less.

Turning its attention to Telangana and AP, the Apex court ruled that the ban would come into force from September 30, 2017 because the excise licences in these states were valid till October 1 and June 30, respectively. Once the licences expired, the ban comes into force here. It should be noted here that the modified order now bans even bars, pubs, restaurants alongside the retail shops within this limit.

In such areas, like that in Himachal Pradesh, liquor can be sold outside 220 m from the highways. In a further partial relief, the court said that it was found that in some states the annual excise period extended beyond April 1, 2017. The ban as per the December 15 judgment starts from April 1.

The court said there was no question of exempting bars, pubs and restaurants, as this would be a dilution of its object of preventing drunk driving, which is one of the major killers plaguing Indian roads.

Justice D Y Chandrachud, who wrote the original judgment on December 15, 2016, clarified in a short order that the object of the court's direction to remove "liquor vends" located within 500 metres distance of national, state highways, associated roads and service lanes, was to end drunk driving and no such relaxation ought to be given to establishments like pubs, bars and restaurants.