Vaiko, Mutharasan call for closure of all shops
He said the parties which ruled the state had earned crores of rupees by running distilleries and selling liquor to Tasmac.
Chennai: A day after PMK founder hailed the Supreme Court order to close the Tasmac shops in the vicinity of highways, MDMK general secretary Vaiko and CPI state secretary R. Mutharasan on Saturday welcomed the judgment and asserted that the closure of the 3,321 shops would be first step for total prohibition in the state.
He said the parties which ruled the state had earned crores of rupees by running distilleries and selling liquor to Tasmac. He added that in future all the Tasmac shops would be closed and the two parties would not be able to continue the liquor business.
He also cited the judgment of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court upholding the resolution of Kalingapatti panchayat to close the Tasmac shop in the village and said the Supreme Court had rejected an appeal by the state government against the High Court order.
The judgments of the court had shown that panchayats have the power to close the Tasmac shops, he said and asked the people to use the local body elections to vote for parties which could close the shops through a resolution in the local body.
Welcoming the verdict, Mutharasan said all the Tasmac shops should be closed and total prohibition should be enforced in Tamil
Nadu.
Already, Tamil Nadu government had closed 1,000 shops and it should come forward to close the remaining outlets. He also demanded alternative employment for the Tasmac employees as per their educational qualification.