MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has observed that a welfare government should strive to enforce prohibition rather than establishing more Tasmac shops.
“When right to health is a fundamental right, the state must ensure that prohibition is slowly implemented in a phased manner to reduce harm to public health,” a bench comprising justices SM Subramaniam and AD Maria Clete observed while allowing a petition by K Kannan, seeking closure of a Tasmac shop located on Tiruchy Road in Dindigul district. Kannan said two schools are located within 50 metres from the Tasmac shop. A church and a government hospital are also situated nearby, he added.
Counsel for Tasmac said the distance restriction of 50 metres under the Tamil Nadu Liquor Retail Vending (in Shops and Bars) Rules, 2003, would not apply to the shop, as it is situated in a commercial area.
The judges, however, opined that rules relating to distance are just regulatory thresholds and mere adherence to them do not validate the location of a Tasmac shop, when mitigating circumstances are raised by an aggrieved citizen.
They further said the directive principles insist that a welfare government should strive wholeheartedly to enforce prohibition, rather than establishing more Tasmac shops which adversely affect public health.
“It is contradictory for a welfare government to establish more hospitals on the one hand and simultaneously establish Tasmac shops on the other. This is not in consonance with constitutional ethos. When the right to health is a fundamental right, the state must ensure that the prohibition is slowly implemented in a phased manner to reduce harm to the public health,” the judges observed.
Stating that closure of one Tasmac shop would not cause any prejudice but would rather benefit the public at large, they ordered closure of the shop within two weeks.