On December 15, 2016, the SC had prohibited the sale of liquor within a distance of 500 metres from the outer edge of national and state highways.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday found that there was nothing wrong with states denotifying roads within city limits, coming to the aid of pubs and hotels that were shut down along highways.
A bench comprising of Chief Justice of India JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud clarified that the purpose of the liquor ban along the highways was to prevent drunken driving. CJI Khehar noted that the speed of traffic in the city was slower than that on the highways. "There are no such issues when the roads are within the city," the court said.
The apex court's observations came on the heels of a plea against the Chandigarh administration's decision to denotify certain roads. The plea filed by NGO Arrive Safe submitted that this was allegedly done with an aim to "circumvent" the SC verdict banning liquor vends within 500 metres of the state and national highways.
"The roads in question do not normally see high-speed traffic. The goal of the liquor ban was to prevent drunken driving in fast-moving traffic. The pace of traffic within the city is very different from traffic outside city limits. The purpose of the ban is to avoid drivers getting inebriated while driving on highways interlinking cities," CJI Khehar said.
The court has scheduled a detailed hearing on July 11.
On December 15, 2016, the SC had prohibited the sale of liquor within a distance of 500 metres from the outer edge of national and state highways. On April 1, towns with a population of less than 20,000 people got some relief as the distance was reduced from 500m to 250m and the order was modified to exclude Sikkim and Meghalaya.
The top court's observation comes as a relief from its earlier rigid stance where it was firm on its December 15 judgment. On April 1, hearing a batch of last minute petitions from states and disgruntled stakeholders, the bench ruled, "The judgement of this court concludes that there is no justification to allow liquor vends on state highways (while prohibiting them on national highways) having due regard to drunken driving being one fo the significant causes of road accidents in India."
However, the court's relaxation in its earlier stance may bring relief to pubs and hotels, particularly in the metros situated, that were forced to shut because they were situated along the highway.
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