the goan I network
PANAJI
The Supreme Court, late last week, further diluted the ban on sale of liquor along highways and has virtually given the go-ahead for liquor shops and bars to come up along highways if the state government is of the opinion that the villages that they fall in are sufficiently urbanised to be treated on par with municipal bodies.
The order will be a welcome relief to bar & restaurant and liquor shop owners who are based in urbanised villages in Goa along the highways like Socorro, Sangolda, Pilerne, Verem, Penha da França as well as Santa Cruz, Nuvem, Navelim etc.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice Dipak Misra and judges Amitava Roy and Dr D Y Chandrachud, ruled that it was open for the state governments to determine whether the principle laid down by the Supreme Court in its order of July 11, 2017 (which decreed that the ban on sale of liquor would not apply to municipal areas) would not be precluded.
“We are inclined to allow the state governments to make this determination since it is a question of fact as to whether an area covered by a local self-governing body is proximate to a municipal agglomeration or is sufficiently developed as to warrant the application of the same principle,” the Supreme Court said.
“In deciding as to whether the principle which has been set down in the order dated July 11, 2017 should be extended to a local self-governing body (or statutory development authority) the state governments would take recourse to all relevant circumstances including the nature and extent of development in the area and the object underlying the direction prohibiting the sale of liquor on national and the state highways,” the Supreme Court also said.
“We leave it open to individual licensees to submit their representations to the competent authorities in the state governments if they are so advised upon which appropriate decisions may be taken by the state governments,” the
order says.
In July last year, the Supreme Court said that the purpose of the directions contained in the order dated December 15, 2016 (which initially banned the sale of liquor along the highways) is to deal with the sale of liquor along and in proximity of highways properly understood, which provide connectivity between cities, towns and villages.
“The order does not prohibit licensed establishments within municipal areas. This clarification shall govern other municipal areas as well. We have considered it appropriate to issue this clarification to set at rest any ambiguity and to obviate repeated recourse to IAs, before the Court,” the Supreme Court had said.
