TN seeks one year to shift liquor outlets

Tamil Nadu government today assured the Madras High Court that it would carry out a survey to determine whether all 6,776 state-run liquor outlets in the state were located as per norms which barred them from being set up near educational institutions and places of worship.
A counter-affidavit, filed by Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) which runs Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) retail outlets, also said it would require six months to complete the survey and another six months for shifting the shops which did not meet the norms.
The counter was filed in response to a PIL by NGO Change India which sought a direction to the authorities to ensure that no liquor shop or bar is located within 500 meters in corporations and municipalities and 1000 meters in rural areas of educational institutions, hospitals, place of worship, bus stand and in a residential area.

The PIL also sought a declaration of Rule 8(1) of Tamil Nadu Liquor Retail Vending (in Shops and Bars) Rules 2003 as unconstitutional.
The rule stipulates that liquor shops should not be set up within 50 meters in corporations and 100 meters in other areas of any place of worship or educational institutions, provided that the distance restriction shall not apply in areas designated as "commercial" or "industrial" by the Development or Town Planning Authorities.
When the matter came up for hearing, Additional Advocate General P H Aravind Pandiyan submitted that collection of data of shops found not located as per Rule 8 (1) would require six months and shifting of those outlets which do not conform to the rules would take another six months.

The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh, recorded the government's assurance that the entire exercise with regard to the survey of distance that has to be maintained between TASMAC Shops and the educational institutions and places of worship would be carried out within a year.
The court then directed TASMAC to file the first compliance report on September 16 and posted the matter to that date.