A Full Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Justices Vineet Kothari and P.N. Prakash, is scheduled to hear all cases filed against the State government’s decision to reopen Tasmac shops, amid the COVID-19 lockdown, on Thursday.
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The Chief Justice had decided to constitute the Full Bench following a reference made to him by a Division Bench led by Justice Prakash on Monday, after concurring with an order passed by a Bench comprising Justices Kothari and Pushpa Sathyanarayana last Friday to close all liquor shops until the lockdown is lifted.
In the meantime, though Tasmac had taken Friday’s order on appeal, the Supreme Court is yet to hear the appeal.
In its verdict, the Bench led by Justice Prakash had said that the right of the State to carry out liquor sales through Tasmac shops is not an absolute right, but a qualified one, and when that right seeks to trample on the right to life, the former has to give way and remain subservient to the latter.
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The Bench stated: “In a Republican democracy [such] as ours, when the executive wing were to pursue a policy that is likely to destroy the right to life, the judicial wing cannot afford to sleep like Kumbhakarna.”
