Telangana State to approach Supreme Court to buy time
The State government has decided to go slow in implementing the Supreme Court directions on the closure of licensed liquor outlets on highways in the State.
CLOSURE OF LIQUOR OUTLETS NEAR HIGHWAYS
Hyderabad: The State government has decided to go slow in implementing the Supreme Court directions on the closure of licensed liquor outlets on highways in the State. The apex court had recently instructed all the State governments not to have liquor outlets within 500 metres radius of national and state highways.
Top officials of the State Excise and Prohibition Department said following the Supreme Court’s orders, notices were served to liquor shops to either shift their outlets beyond 500 meters or close them down. However, no shop has been removed so far as the traders have been facing difficulties in finding alternative places to open outlets as per the stipulations.
Sources said liquor traders pleaded with the government that they got licenses to open the outlets near highways and were finding it difficult to shift now. They sought exemption till September 30 when their licence would expire.Liquor being a major source of revenue for the government, officials said the government was exploring alternatives to minimise the damage to license holders and also the State exchequer.
One of the options before the government is to approach the apex court and seek some exemption. Sources said that the Karnataka and West Bengal governments had already filed review petition in the court. The TS government is also studying those petitions and may approach the Supreme Court with a review petition, according to sources.
According to rough estimations, nearly 60 per cent of the total 3000 liquor outlets (including 2,200 wine shops and 800 bars) are supposed to be closed down if the guidelines are to be strictly implemented. If that happened, the officials said, it would result in a loss of nearly Rs 6,000 crore to the State exchequer in the 2016-17 financial year. It may be mentioned here that the government has targeted Rs 14,000 crore revenue from liquor sales.
While, at a review on the status of closure of liquor shops on highways, State Chief Secretary SP Singh instructed the Roads and Buildings Department to coordinate with the Excise Department to ascertain the exact number of liquor shops located on highways and also find alternatives to reduce revenue loss. The report would be included in the petition to be filed before the court.
