Hyderabad: Following a petition that the Prohibition and Excise department was ignoring liquor shop licence holders were violating rules and providing permit rooms, the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday issued directions to the department to submit a report after inspecting the permit rooms randomly.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice S.V. Bhatt was dealing a petition of one S.Ramulu Naik urging a direction to Excise officials to inspect and take necessary action against the wine shops which were violating rules in the name of permit rooms.
The bench directed the commissioner of Prohibition and Excise, Telangana, to inspect the permit rooms attached to retail wine shops randomly and to submit a report to the court by the first week of January 2019.
The court in its directions told the commissioner to file a report after random inspections of liquor shops with permit rooms which are attached to the shop premises of ‘A4’ licensees. The report should disclose whether the size of the room is in conformity with the statutory rule and whether there is strict adherence to the requirements of the rule.
The bench asked the commissioner to state whether there were any rules that exclude any particular type of activity like serving and consumption of eatables etc., in the permit rooms.
The petitioner reported to the court that the officials concerned were not responding to his representations requesting action against owners for violations of rules with regard to permit rooms.
Mr S. Krishna Mohan, counsel for the petitioner, reported that the licensee should instal at least two surveillance cameras on the premises with linkage facility to the control room of the Prohibition and Excise Department.
According to Rules 25 & 26 governing wine shop licences, the permit room must not be less than 20 sq metres and not more than 100 sq metres. It should not contain chairs and tables, and food cannot be supplied. Facilities like wash basin and toilets can be provided to the customers.
