CHENNAI: Tasmac has assured Madras high court that data with regard to location of its shops from place of worship or educational institutions by actual measurements would be collected and if shops are found not located as per rules, then those outlets would be shifted.
Taking this assurance on record, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M. M. Sundresh closed a PIL from A. Narayanan, a journalist. In his petition, Narayanan sought to declare Rule 8 (1) of Tamil Nadu Liquor Retail Vending (In Shops and Bars) Rules 2003 as unconstitutional in so far as it lays down that no shops should be established in municipal corporations and municipalities within 50 metres and in other areas 100 metres from any place of worship or educational institutions.
He also sought a directive to authorities to ensure that no liquor shop or bar or pub or such other establishment serving liquor was located within 500 metres in municipal corporations and municipalities and 1000 metres in other rural areas from any educational institutions, hospitals, place of worship, bus stand and in a residential area. The bench said the Additional advocate-general placed before the court an order passed by the court’s Madurai Bench in which Rule 8 (1) was examined in the context how the distance between Tasmac shop and the educational institutions has to be measured. “We have also pointed out that in terms of the order dated August 27, 2014 in Mounasamy case, reference has been made in Tamil Nadu Survey and Boundaries Act and Rules framed there under.”
