Supreme Court bans liquor shops on all national and state highways

The Supreme Court has ordered a ban on all liquor shops on national as well as state highways across the country and has also made it clear that licenses of existing shops will not be renewed after March 31 next year.
This has been decided by a three-judge bench and they have also directed that all signages indicating presence of liquor vends will be prohibited on national and state highways.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com date 15 December 2016.

The apex court had expressed concern over the fact that there were 1.5 lakh fatalities every year in road mishaps. The 2015 report of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had indicated that almost five lakh accidents occurred last year in India in which 1,46,000 people were killed and thrice the number were injured.
In fact, an analysis of road accident data pertaining to 2015 reveals that around 1,374 accidents and 400 deaths take place every day on Indian roads - this translates into 57 accidents and loss of 17 lives on an average every hour.


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Dance bars in Maharashtra can continue to operate as before

The Supreme Court has ruled that dance bars in Maharashtra will continue to operate under the old terms and conditions that permitted serving of liquor with CCTV cameras at the entrance. The honorable bench did not put on hold the new rules that limited the timings of the dances up to 11.30 p.m., prohibited serving of liquor and installation of CCTV cameras in the dance bar itself. However, the judges said the "persons granted license should be allowed to continue under old terms and conditions".
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 22 September 2016.

The bench took exception to the new rules that prohibits serving of liquor at the dance bars and said that if somebody has a bar license and a dance bar, there cannot be any restriction on serving liquor.
As to installation of CCTV at the entrance, senior counsel appearing for the Maharashtra government said that installing CCTV in dance area was a part of the police power of the state. However, senior counsel appearing for the dance bar owners said that CCTVs had a chilling affect on the people who come to dance bars because people have some right to privacy.


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Goa is marketing itself as a destination for casinos and liquor

Francis D'Souza, the Deputy Chief Minister of Goa has indicated that the coastal state is a place for liquor and casinos along with other tourist attractions and has maintained that the casino industry is generating revenue for the government.
This has been reported in news18.com dated 12 June 2016.

As the Deputy Chief Minister of Goa has said - Goa is a place for liquor, sun, sand, dance. It is also known for casinos, pilgrimage tourism, honeymoon destination, hinterland tourism and as Electronic Dance music (EDM) destination. He was interacting with reporters on the sidelines of national summit on `Smart Cities in Era of Digital India' organized by Goa government.
While responding to a question on branding the coastal state as a casino destination, he said that Goa is not known just for one thing. Casino is not the only reason for tourists to visit the State. There are several other attractions for tourists to come to Goa. Drug trade and prostitution have given a bad name to the state but these cannot be removed overnight.


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