National and State Highways will shortly turn “dry” after the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered all liquor shops situated along these roads to be shut before April 1, 2017.
The apex court, while dealing with a bunch of petitions filed across the country challenging the existence of liquor vends on arterial highway roads, was of the view that such vends are a distraction to travellers and one of the reasons behind the large number of reported cases of road accidents along these highway stretches.
A Bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur, Justices DY Chandrachud and l Nageswara Rao ordered that all highways (State and national) should be made free of any liquor shops. Even if the highway passes through any municipality area or a town, this rule will apply. An exception was created for liquor shops which are situated at a distance of 500 metres from the edge of the highway to continue with their business.
In order to ensure implementation of its order, the bench directed the state and UTs to immediately remove all signage or advertisements showing the presence of liquor serving units along highways. It entrusted the Chief Secretary and DGP of all states/UTs to monitor implementation of the court order.
Such shops situated on the highways whose licence has expired or about to expire will not be entitled to any extension, the bench ruled. However, no existing valid licence will be allowed to continue beyond March 31, 2017, said the bench.
last week, while reserving orders on the set of appeals, the apex court had expressed concern over 1.5 lakh fatalities every year in road mishaps, saying it was considering to close liquor vends on national and state highways across the nation, besides removal of signage indicating their location.
Reminding the state governments that its constitutional obligation is to prohibit liquor sale, the bench felt that liquor licenses are easy to obtain due to the pressure created by liquor lobby. Often keeping revenue interest in mind States tend to close their eyes to the ills generated from the liquor trade, the bench had observed.
A 2015 report of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had said almost five lakh accidents occurred last year in India, killing 1,46,000 people and leaving thrice the number injured. It was alleged before the court that despite recommendation of an Expert Committee to ban sale of alcohol on State and national highways, States like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were sticking to their prevailing excise policies under which liquor shops obtained licences along the highways.