KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday criticised the government for not controlling the overcrowding and sinuous queues in front of Bevco outlets amidst the pandemic. The court observed that the dignity of persons standing in the long queues should be considered by the state. "You seem to be selling your product, not like a commodity, but like contraband. Though there was an order to provide adequate facilities in 2017, the government has not taken any action. There is a systemic failure on this issue," observed the court.
"It is the duty of the corporation to make sure that sufficient facilities are given to their customers so that they can make their choice of purchase of liquor in a civilised manner like any other commodity and then leave the counters without their self-respect being compromised," held the court.
Justice Devan Ramachandran issued the order on a petition seeking to initiate a contempt of court case against the Excise Commissioner and others for not implementing the order issued in 2017.
The court said that it was rather distressing that the factual situation at the ground level has not been altered at all, and on the contrary, it has become far more perilous. "At the time when the court had delivered the judgment, the COVID pandemic was not even in our contemplation or wildest imagination. The surge of the pandemic has now made the equation far more complicated," observed the court.
Kerala now contributed one-third of India's COVID cases and the test positivity rate is not coming down. "You cannot have more than 20 people for a wedding or the funeral, but you can have more than 500 people in the queue. The people standing in the queue are not following social distancing," observed the court.
With great infrastructural and logistical support, a larger number of counters would be required and Bevco ought to have considered this in the last four years. "This is more so because, after the first lockdown we faced, Bevco was certainly aware of the pressure of demand that was on its outlets but they did not do anything even then. This cannot be countenanced any further when we are facing the cataclysmic prospect of a third wave and consequent lockdown," observed the court.
The endeavour of the court is not to merely find fault, but to ensure that the agonizing predicament which this state has been confronted with for the last several years be resolved most effectively.
When customers line up in front of liquor shops and spill over to public places and roads, it certainly is an affront on the collective dignity of society as a whole, observed the court. The customer is put to a great amount of humiliation, which he is forced to endure because the sale of liquor is virtually a monopoly at the hands of Bevco. Hence, sufficient facilities should be provided by the corporation. "However, what we now see, which is not confined to the factual scenario of this case alone, is that every counter of the Bevco or at least most of them have these sinuous queues of people, waiting for hours to obtain their quota of beverage," pointed out the court.
The surge of COVID has added a new dimension to the ominous problem. This was because the pandemic spreads primarily through droplet transmissions. It is internationally accepted that unless people maintain a distance of at least one metre from each other, it could be the cause of a further surge. "We are going through the second wave of the pandemic and if this situation is allowed to continue, in the manner it is presently tolerated, the third wase may not be far away," observed the court.
As per the direction, S Anangthakrishnan, Excise Commission, Yogesh Gupta, Managing Director, Kerala State Beverages Corporation and others attended the virtual hearing. The court also directed them to present on the next hearing date -- July 16.