SC order shuts a quarter of Goa’s liquor vendors, bars

Panaji/New Delhi: In what is seen as a big blow to Goa, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to revisit its order banning liquor vendors within 500m of national and state highways from Saturday, and ruled that this would also bar hotels and restaurants on highways from serving liquor to guests.

With this order, more than 3,000 liquor traders, including bars, restaurants, wholesalers, retailers and warehouses, will be shut from Saturday. Three days ago the state government had said that only 768 outlets would be impacted by the December 2016 order.

Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) executive member Ralph D'Souza said that this will have a negative impact on tourism and trade. Liquor establishment along highways and those located in the state's interiors will also feel the pinch, he added.

President All Goa Liquor Traders' Association Dattaprasad Naik said, "Liquor business will collapse in the state. The Supreme Court order is very harsh."

A senior excise official told TOI on Friday that none of the 3,000-odd licences identified by them had been renewed. "So all shall stop operating from April 1," he added.

For towns with a population of less than 20,000, the earlier distance mentioned in the December 2016 order prohibiting sale of liquor within 500m of state and national highways has been modified to 220m.

"They would be identifying these areas, and the licences within 220m," he said, adding their next course action will be determined after the Supreme Court order is thoroughly interpreted. "We are meeting again tomorrow," the official said.

The excise department may press its flying squad into service to ensure that the apex court's order is not violated.

An excise official said that the department would receiving assistance from other organs of the state government, such as police, to see that the 3,200 liquor establishments, whose licenses have not been renewed, do not start operations.

Talukas of Salcete and Mormugao are likely to be among the worst affected, with each having 600-plus licenses. Quepem and Pernem, with a population less than 20,000, will get some respite with prohibition areas restricted to 220 meters of national or state highway.

In its December 15 order that kept in mind the large number of deaths on highways due to drunken driving and the easy availability of alcohol, the SC had banned liquor vendors operating within 500m of NHs and SHs. It had also ordered these vendors were not to be visible from highways and were not to put up hoardings advertising their proximity to the highways.

The only relaxation given by the SC was in terms of the distance, and that too for small municipal areas that have come up on either sides of NHs and SHs. But, the condition was that the liquor vendors in these small towns could operate 220m from NHs and SHs only if the population of the settlement was 20,000 or less, a suggestion given by Karnataka additional advocate general Devadatta Kamat, on Thursday.

Nearly 75 liquor vendors across the country had petitioned the SC for relaxation of the stringent norms on the ground that it would cause enormous revenue loss to states as well as hit their business, while causing difficulty for common people to source alcohol. As the deadline approached, attorney general Mukul Rohatgi had given an opinion to the Kerala government clarifying that the SC order applied only to liquor vendors and it would not stop hotels and restaurants on highways from serving liquor.

But, drowning the hopes of a relaxation in the March 31 deadline, a bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and justices D Y Chandrachud and L N Rao declared that the March 31 deadline won't be deferred.

This means liquor vendors situated within 500m from highways would have to shut shop and relocate from April 1.

In addition, the SC clarified that the ban on liquor vends would apply in equal rigour to hotels and restaurants situated within 500m of NHs and SHs and they would be barred from serving liquor to patrons. This would severely affect the business of five-star hotels Taj Palace and ITC Maurya in New Delhi which, senior advocate C A Sundaram had informed the SC on Thursday, would face difficulty in serving liquor to guests.

The court said it had passed the order banning liquor vendors within 500m of highways on the assumption that the excise year was from April 1 to March 31, during which period licences for liquor vends are allotted through auction. It said licences in Telangana were given from October 1 to September 30 and in Andhra Pradesh it was from July 1 to June 30.

Tough times ahead! Is this the reason why Diggy didn't rush to form govt because then Congress would have had to implement SC directives and become unpopular?

The SC said in Telangana and AP liquor vendors with licences granted before December 15 last year would continue to operate along highways till September 30 and June 30, respectively. However, these two states will have to adhere to the 500m rule for liquor vendors from the new excise year.

The small hill states of Sikkim and Meghalaya, which had pleaded that 500m on both sides of NHs and SHs were not available because of topography, with hill on one side and gorge on the other, were exempted from the distance rule. However, a similar argument by Himachal Pradesh found part favour with the court, which said in HP, the 220m distance rule would apply for liquor vendors on highways.