A tippler who sought a directive to the Kerala State Beverages Corporation(Bevco) to sell liquor through its online portal in view of the COVID-19 outbreak has been slapped with costs of ₹50,000 by the Kerala High Court for his “reckless, insensitive, and insolent action” of filing a frivolous petition during the present trying times.
In his writ petition, Jyothish G. of Aluva said that the outbreak of COVID-19 had made it unsafe for him to visit a liquor outlet, which is often crowded, and buy liquor for his consumption. He, therefore, wrote to Bevco with a plea for selling liquor online.
Irked by the filing of the petition in the present atmosphere, Justice A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar observed that the pressing concern of the government was to prevent transmission of COVID-19 from person to person.
The High Court too had placed restrictions on the number of cases to be filed to the bare minimum to avoid crowded conditions.
Observing that the petitioner could not be let away lightly for his reckless and insolent action, the court directed him to pay the cost to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund in two weeks.
