Says okay to denotify highways if such roads are within cityrrrPTI rNEW DELHIrrThe apex court said the purpose of its ban was to ensure high speeding vehicles on highways don’t have drivers under influence of liquor. “There are no such issues when the roads are within the city,” said the court. It added that denotifying such roads as highways may have intelligible differentia. rA Bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud was hearing an appeal by an NGO against the Punjab and Haryana High Court order dismissing its plea. rThe plea was filed in the High Court by Arrive Safe Society of Chandigarh, an NGO, challenging a notification by the Chandigarh administration which denotified state highways and converted them into district roads to allow continued sale of liquor despite the apex court judgment. r“There are city roads and there are roads outside the city. There are congested roads. The idea behind the judgement was that in a fast moving traffic, you should not be under the influence of liquor,” the Bench said, adding that there was a difference between the city roads and the highways. rIt asked the petitioner NGO to consider its stand of opposing the decision of the Chandigarh administration to denotify state highways and adjourned the hearing on the appeal to July 11. r“You think on what we are telling you. We will pass an order on next Tuesday,” the Bench said. rThe apex court, in December last year, had banned sale of liquor within 500 metres of state and national highways across the nation from April one this year. rThe NGO, in its plea, has alleged that in a bid to circumvent the order, the Chandigarh administration denotified the State highways to allow the sale of liquor even after March 31. The High Court refused to quash the notification. rIt was contended that by denotifying state highways and renaming them as major district roads, the Chandigarh administration had made a mockery of the Supreme Court order setting out the distance criteria.
Supreme Court gives big relief for pubs within city
In what seems to be a big relief for pubs shut down along the highway, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that there was nothing wrong with denotifying highways if such roads are within a city.
