HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court verdict on Thursday banning operations of liquor shops or bars within a range of at least 500 metres from the National and State Highways, if and when implemented in the state, is likely to have far-reaching implications. While stakeholders involved in the matter claimed to be awaiting a full copy of the historic judgment, the fact remains more than half of the bars and wine shops in the state are operated along the National and State Highways.
An already existing rule, the State Excise Rules 2012, specifies that no liquor store shall be established within 50 metres from the National and State Highways, and exempts villages, municipalities and corporations located on either side of highways. The extent of its implementation is in itself an unanswered question.
“No doubt there will be a huge impact on revenue. We have to study the judgment and understand the extent of restrictions. We had done a survey of all the shops on highways earlier and even issued notices then. We will follow up as per the order,” said RV Chandravadan, commissioner, Prohibition and Excise.
Will existing licensees be allowed to continue till the expiry of licenses?
As per the data, there are 2,144 wine shops, 800 bars and 27 clubs that serve liquor in the state. The new bar licenses were issued as recent as in October this year and ongoing wine shop licenses are to expire only in 2017 end. “We have already identified shops and their distance from highways following the directions of the Supreme Court empowered committee on road safety. Around 500 liquor outlets were there on highways a year ago,” Chandravadan added.
D Venkateswara Rao of Telangana Wine Dealers Association said while everyone is bound to honour the verdict of the apex court, they would also like to take legal opinions. “We need to know if existing licensees could continue till the expiry of their license. Also, the definition of highways is something that needs clarity,” he said.
Point out that drunk driving and drunk pedestrians are a major cause of accidents on highways, P Ramesh Reddy, project officer (Hyderabad), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said the new judgment and its proper implementation could bring down accidents to a great extent.
Availability on highways lead to impulsive buying
Rema Rajeswari, superintendent of police, Mahabubnagar district, speaking about the ongoing enforcement against drunk driving, said there has been a major hike in cases pertaining to drunk driving in the district. While 139 cases of drunk driving were reported in 2014 in Mahabubnagar district, it went up to 1,339 and 3,668 in 2015 and 2016 respectively.