With The Highway Liquor Ban Eating Away At Their Taxes, States Seek Legal Ways To Beat It

While the West Bengal government is seeking legal opinion on whether its decision to de-notify state highways — after the Supreme Court ban on sale of alcohol along highways — could be construed as contempt of court, uncertainty gripped others in different parts of the country. Goa stood out as an outlier defying the ban.

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In Chandigarh, the Punjab Hotel Association decided to approach the Supreme Court against its order banning serving of liquor at pubs, restaurants and hotels up to 220 metres (in smaller municipalities with populations under 20,000) of national and state highways, even as states from Maharashtra to Jharkhand saw booze shops within the specified distance shut down.

In Kolkata, a top law officer said, "De-notification of state highways can be a possible solution. But this is fraught with legalities. On Friday, when the SC passed the order, these were state highways and fell within the order's ambit. Hence the legal consultations."

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Preliminary estimates show nearly 10,000 people are employed in 1,800 such outlets off highways in West Bengal alone; they are expected to lose their jobs. While some owners were resigned to their fate and thinking of relocating, others — a more sizeable section — pinned their hopes on the state finding a way out.

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Sukhbir Singh, who runs Sher-e-Punjab hotel in Kolaghat, off NH-6, said, "I do not understand the legalities or how far we can appeal against it. It has had a huge impact on business." Singh, who employs over 150 people, said, "If the shops have to close down, I don't know what will happen to the people who are working." He, however, feels the state "will consider our problems".

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Bengal labour minister Moloy Ghatak, who also has the law portfolio, refused to comment. An options is to seek more time to implement the order. The state is also thinking of pushing some vends further than 500 metres from highways. In Jharkhand, the state government has begun a crackdown on liquor shops.

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In Chandigarh, Punjab Hotel Association president Satish Arora said, "Hotels on the highways may go out of business because they can't serve liquor to customers." Hoteliers said they should be given at least two years to shift and the Union government should compensate them for losses.

Goa, however, saw vendors rebuff the ban after the state government failed to work out a rehabilitation plan. There was anger, even desperation, and tension among liquor vendors along the arterial NH-66 (earlier NH-17) that runs through Goa.