Licence to serve liquor during big events will be issued subject to strict conditions, T.N. govt. tells Madras High Court

The Tamil Nadu government will issue a special license for serving liquor during events, with strict conditions to prevent misuse.

The Tamil Nadu government has informed the Madras High Court that a special licence for serving liquor during international and national events at conference halls, convention centres and stadia shall be issued on condition that it should be served to the guests strictly within a designated area away from public view.

The first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy has also been informed of a series of other stringent conditions that the government proposes to impose on the licencees to ensure that the special licence was not misused to indulge in illegal sale of liquor.

The submissions were made in an additional counter affidavit filed by the Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise J. Jayakanthan in response to a public interest litigation petition filed by K. Balu, president of Advocates’ Forum for Social Justice, against the introduction of the special licence regime for serving liquor.

Advocate General P.S. Raman submitted the additional counter affidavit, filed also on behalf of Home Secretary P. Amudha, before the court. However, when Senior Counsel N.L. Rajah, representing the PIL petitioner, sought time to file his reply to the additional counter affidavit, the judges adjourned the hearing to March 7.

The government told the court that it had received representations from Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India, Mahindra World City- Chennai, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and Tamilnadu Trade Promotion Organisation emphasising the need to serve liquor during international and national events.

After considering such requests, the government had decided to introduce the special licence regime for storing and supplying liquor to guests during conferences and summits held at conference halls and convention centres (except those situated in educational institutions) and the sports events held at various stadia.

Following doubts raised by the court regarding possible misuse of the special licence, the government said it had decided to insist upon the licencees to obtain No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the Commissioners of Police for venues situated in city limits and from Superintendents of Police for those in the districts.