Explain how you keep Gujarat dry: HC to state government

In an embarrassing development for the state government, the Gujarat high court has initiated suo motu action in connection with the hooch tragedy.

A division bench of the high court, consisting of chief justice KS Radhakrishnan and justice Akil Kureshi, has directed the state government to explain its implementation of the Prohibition Act.

The court's action has been spurred by recent complaints made by the volunteers of the Gandhi Ashram, who had submitted their concerns through letters written to the chief justice.

The bench not only sought an explanation of the implementation of prohibition, but also details on how officers were enforcing it. The government has been asked to file a report in two weeks. RG Patel, the inspector of the Kagdapith police station; home secretary; DGP; and 13 bootleggers, including nine women, have been made respondents.

The bench took action after receiving two separate complaints from Hemant Chauhan, the president of the Gandhi Ashram Seva Samiti, and others. The letters highlight the liquor menace in the state and contend that the government has not heeded the recommendations made by the justice AS Dave commission. The commission was constituted in 1989 after a hooch tragedy killed 101 people in the city.

The complaints emphasise the fact that hundreds of people have died in the 16 hooch tragedies in the state since 1976. Though the government's figures suggest that 275 was the toll of those tragedies, the casualties were much higher, the complaints say.