1600 bars get lease of life, SC says yes to denotification

The 1600 bars and 4500 wine shops which were closed down have got a new lease of life by Supreme Court’s decision not to interfere in denotification of highways with in city limits by the respective state governments.  The SC has also dismissed an application protesting against the denotification of Highways within city limits.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had upheld the decision of the state governments to denotify highways within city limits. An appeal was filed with the Supreme Court questioning this. The bench dismissed the application and ruled that only highways are barred from sale of liquor. Once denotified the roads cease to be highways. There is nothing wrong in denotifying highways within city limits and considering them as roads under city administration, SC opined.

The bars around M G Road in City were also closed making big news. The State Government had recommended denotifying a total 858 km of area around highways in the State and was awaiting the SC ruling in the case of Punjab and Haryana. With the decision of SC not to interfere in states’ decisions the 1600 bars and 4500 wine shops in the City are reopening. However, all bars and wine shops outside the city limits should take care to see that they do not fall under the 500 meters limits within highways.  In this regard around 1000 wine shops and bars have to relocate in the State, reported Kannada Prabha.

There are 10,075 wine shops of various kinds in the State, out of which 3015 were shut down following SC order of June 30.  By closure for 11 days the total loss incurred is around Rs 70 crores to the State exchequer. The denotification process is not yet complete and till such time as the process is completed the daily loss of Rs 15 crore will continue. The State Government will bring pressure on the Centre to expedite the process said excise officials, reported Kannada Prabha.

• bars wine shops closed down
• SC oks denotification