Plea moved in Delhi HC seeking directions on home delivery of liquor

As the decision to allow liquor shops to open amid the lockdown continues to face criticism from many, a plea has been moved in Delhi High Court seeking directions to the AAP government to come up with a policy on online sale of liquor and its home delivery.

The petition has been filed by Advocate Simran Kohli and Advocate Abhishek Bhagat.

According to the petitioners, while the entire country is tirelessly working to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, the Delhi government should come up with a policy so that liquor can be delivered to the homes of the consumers, or introduce a token system so that the crowd can be managed.

The plea also seeks to ensure strict adherence to social distancing.

"It is the duty of the state to develop and adopt adequate measures to help contain the spread of the virus," the petition said.

On Wednesday, another plea was submitted in the Delhi High Court demanding the closure of liquor shops in the national capital.

The petition was filed by the NGO Civil Safety Council of India. It stated that the opening of liquor shops is failing the purpose of lockdown as people are flouting social distancing norms and huge crowds are gathering outside the liquor shops.

Notably, the Delhi government has failed to effectively manage the crowd outside liquor shops that opened from Monday. Huge crowds are gathering outside these shops without adhering to social distancing. The situation became so bad that in some places, the police was forced to shut down the shops and disperse the crowd.

This irresponsible flocking of people at the shops might prove to be detrimental to all the efforts that have been put in to contain the virus.