NEW DELHI: Kerala-based beer and wine parlour owners on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court seeking clarification on the orders of shutting down liquor shops within the 500 metre of national and state highways from April 1.
However, a vacation bench of Justices R K Agrawal and Deepak Gupta slated the hearing for July before another Bench, which is already hearing the case.
In their plea, bar owners informed the court that FL-11 licences were given to them by the Excise Department and were renewed on March 31 for one year. But now, the excise officials were threatening them to close down their beer and wine parlours situated within a distance of 150 to 350 m from the national and state highways.
FL-11 licence pertains to the sale of beer and wine for consumption by public in a separate room in a beer and wine parlour.
The applicants have sought a clarification from the court that its order does not apply to the service of beer and wine parlours as they serve material that contain alcohol below six and 12%, respectively.
They said stocks worth lakhs of rupees were lying in their shops and they would suffer financial losses if they were not allowed to sell them.
On March 31, Supreme Court had asked liquor vends within 500 m of national and state highways to be shut down from April 1.
The order came on a PIL alleging that nearly 1.42 lakh people died per year in road mishaps and that drunken driving was a major contributor.
However, states of Sikkim, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh and areas having population up to 20,000 were exempted.