Can liquor sale timing be cut by 30 minutes?: Madras HC asks Tasmac

The bench directed the TASMAC counsel to take instructions from the government and report back.
An elite TASMAC shop in Chennai. (File photo|  Ashwin Prasath, EPS)
An elite TASMAC shop in Chennai. (File photo| Ashwin Prasath, EPS)

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday asked the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) whether the liquor sale timings in retail outlets could be reduced by half an hour before closing time.

The first bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy posed the query to the Tasmac when a PIL seeking orders to check liquor consumption in open places after bars are closed at 10 pm came up for hearing. The bench directed the TASMAC counsel to take instructions from the government and report back.

The Tasmac management submitted it had sent a proposal to the state government, seeking extension of bars by half an hour beyond 10 pm. An affidavit filed by the Tasmac stated the proposal was pending consideration.

However, it added that the opening and closing of Tasmac shops and the attached bars are “purely the policy decision” of the government; writ petitioners have “no locus standi to interfere with” it. 

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