Ordering the closing down of a Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) liquor shop located on a roadside. While passing the order, Madras High Court pulled up the MK Stalin government in Tamil Nadu saying that a welfare government should strive to enforce prohibition rather than establishing more TASMAC shops which adversely affect public health. TASMAC is a company owned by the Tamil Nadu state government, having a monopoly over wholesale and retail branding of alcohol beverages in the state.
“…it is a constitutional philosophy and the Directive principles insist that a welfare Government should strive wholeheartedly to enforce prohibition, rather than establish more TASMAC shops which adversely affect public health,” said a bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and Justice AD Maria Clete.
The Madurai bench of Madras High Court told the Tamil Nadu government that it was contradictory for a welfare state to establish more hospitals on one hand, and simultaneously establish TASMAC shops on the other. The court added that a welfare state should strive to prohibit alcohol beverages in a gradual, phased manner to reduce harm to public health.
“It is contradictory for a welfare Government to establish more hospitals on the one hand and simultaneously establish TASMAC shops on the other. This is not in consonance with the constitutional ethos. When the right to health is a fundamental right, the State must ensure that the prohibition is slowly implemented in a phased manner to reduce harm to the public health,” the court observed.
The court’s remarks came during the hearing of a petition seeking closing down of a TASMAC shop located at Trichy Road in Dindigul Town. The petitioner, K Kannan, informed the court that the shop was located on a road which was used by school children and was causing nuisance to passers-by. He added that because of the shop, the commuters were finding it difficult to use the road freely.
Counsel for TASMAC opposed the petition claiming that the shop was located within a commercial area. He claimed that this exempted the shop from the restriction that no shop should be established in areas having an educational institution or a place of worship within a distance of 50 metres. Rejecting the claim, the court said that mere adherence to the distance criterion did not suffice when other mitigating circumstances were raised by aggrieved citizens. The court noted that the shop was causing inconvenience to school-going children and other commuters.
“In view of the fact that the closure of one TASMAC shop would not cause any prejudice but would rather benefit the public at large, this Court is inclined to consider the relief sought for. Consequently, the respondents are directed to forthwith close the TASMAC shop No.3110 situated at Trichy Road, Dindigul Town, within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order,” the court ordered.
