Noting that there are still long queues in front of certain Kerala State Beverages Corporation's (Bevco) liquor outlets, the Kerala High Court on Thursday asked Bevco to abide by the Excise Commissioner's directives to shift or relocate shops to avoid such queues.
Justice Devan Ramachandran orally observed that if the High Court had allowed long queues in front of the liquor shops to continue, we would have been sitting on a time bomb and it would have blown up by now. The moment the court had intervened in the case, authorities took corrective action, which meant they were admitting their lapses. Thanks to the intervention of the petitioner and the court, the State was not seeing a third wave now.
The court said that long queues were still seen in front of certain liquor shops. However, it was keeping silent because it believed that the Excise Commissioner and the State government would take actions to avoid such queues.
The court asked Bevco not to resile from taking action on the basis of the Excise Commissioner's report, adding that Bevco might be the highest revenue-generating industry in the State. But it could not gloat that it was doing a good job as the people were forced to go to the public health system because of it.
Business obstructed
The court made the oral observations when the counsel for Bevco sought to close a contempt of court petition in view of the shifting of a liquor shop that had caused nuisance and obstruction to the petitioner’s business on Kuruppam road in Thrissur.
Counsel for Bevco submitted that three outlets had already been shifted and 24 more would be shifted immediately. Another 24 shops would have to be upgraded and provided basic facilities. It had requested the Excise Commissioner to permit 38 outlets that had better facilities to continue to function on the current premises.
The court also directed the State government to inform it about the actions taken on the recommendations of the Excise Commissioner for shifting certain outlets and providing basic facilities.
The court adjourned the case to September 16.
