Hotels, restaurant or bars within 500 metres of national and State highways cannot serve liquor any more. The Supreme Court on Friday refused to give any relief to the stakeholders though it agreed to make certain exceptions in case of hilly States like Sikkim and Meghalaya. The “off liquor limit” will be reduced to 220 metres of the highways in case of municipal areas with less than 20,000 population.
Following the December 15, 2016 order of SC directing liquor vends to move 500 metres from national and State highways before April 1, several restaurant and bar owners, along with State Governments and alcohol traders, had jointly petitioned the court to relax this rule.
Hotels like Taj and Maurya situated in Delhi also sought clarification if the ban will imply to serving liquor in hotels as well. To their surprise, the Bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar, Justices DY Chandrachud and l Nageswara Rao dismissed their applications by directing that its order will apply equally to hotels, restaurants and bars situated within 500 metres of any highways.
Justice Chandrachud, writing the judgment for the Bench observed, “Since the object of the direction is to prevent drunken driving, no such relaxation can be made which would defeat the object sought to be achieved.”
Incidentally, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had conveyed to the Kerala Government that the SC order applied only to roadside liqour vends and not to restaurants, hotels or bars. On this basis, the State even exempted this category to continue beyond March 31, 2017, the deadline fixed by Court for its rule to be enforced across the country.
However, the Bench did grant certain exemptions to its 500-metre rule. It exempted Meghalaya and Sikkim from this rule considering the topography of the hilly States. These two States alone had approached the court for exemption on this ground.
The second exception was made for small municipal areas with population less than 20,000 situated along State highways where the 500 metres criteria, if applied, will result in the entire town or city limits to fall within the prohibited zone. In such towns, instead of 500 metres, liquor vends, shops or bars will be allowed to operate within 220 metres from the edge of State or national highway.
A third exception was also created for some of the existing liquor licensees of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The Bench had proceeded under an impression that all States follow a common licence calendar from March to April.
But Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were exception to this rule, with liquor licences awarded on October 1 and July 1 respectively. The Bench allowed the licensees in the two States to continue business beyond April 1, 2017 till expiry of licences, but not beyond September 30, 2017 in any case.
While States and liquor licensees argued for the ban to go, the Court focused on public safety as an overarching principle to maintain its decision with certain modifications. It was the Union Road Transport Ministry that ordered States as far back as on October 26, 2007 to cease grant of licences along national highways.
Two reminders followed on December 1, 2011 and March 18, 2013 seeking urgency as drunken driving had claimed 1.42 lakh out of 4.99 lakh road accidents in the country as on 2011.