Apex court order may leave city almost dry

Nitin Jain

High or dry? This million-dollar question, being repeatedly asked by Bacchus lovers in Chandigarh, is eliciting no reply. Given the recent Supreme Court judgment, which says no shop for the sale of liquor shall be situated within a distance of 500 metres from the outer edge of national or state highway, or a service lane along the highway, more than 85 per cent of the liquor vends in the City Beautiful would have to down shutters from April 1.

However, in what is seen as a move to scuttle the apex court order, the UT Administration has come up with an “innovative idea” of de-notifying the notified state highways and describe them as “major district roads”. But this “innovation” has come under judicial scanner after an NGO, Arrive Safe Society, challenged the UT Administration order in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

With less than a week to go for the April 1 deadline set by the apex court to follow the new guidelines on liquor vends, uncertainty prevails among the booze lovers, liquor traders as well as in the UT Administration over the fate of liquor business in Chandigarh.

While the consumers are worried over the prospect of 84 out of the 99 liquor vends closing down from April 1, those dealing in liquor trade are on the verge of losing business if no way-out is found to keep the City Beautiful in “high spirits”. For the UT Administration, it will amount to a loss of over Rs 200 crore per annum, which it earns from liquor vends.

On its part, Arrive Safe Society president Harman Singh Sidhu is determined to get UT’s de-notification of roads quashed, calling it a “mischievous move” to bypass the SC order. Whatever be the outcome, the SC order, if implemented in toto, would turn Chandigarh into a veritable “dry state”. But, so it seems, the booze lovers, liquor traders and the Administration are hell bent on keeping the UT in “high spirits”. Let’s see who succeeds!

Open house  question

A three-year-old child was brutally bitten by a stray dog in Mohali recently. This is not the first time when stray dogs have wreaked havoc in the tricity. According to official figures, the number of dog-bite cases in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula is increasing at an alarming rate. However, the civic authorities express their helplessness in tackling the grave issue, posing a threat to residents, especially children and the aged, citing the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules. Are human rights less than animal rights? What should be done to protect human rights without harming animal rights? Send your comments in not more than 70 words at [email protected]