Madras High Court wants to know quantum, price of liquor procured by Tasmac
The Hindu
Tasmac has been directed to submit the details of its procurement from individual distilleries and breweries, in a sealed cover by January 6, for the court to examine if such information can be made public under the Right to Information Act of 2005.
The Madras High Court has decided to examine whether the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) is bound to disclose or not the quantum of liquor it procures from individual breweries and distilleries in the State and the cost at which such procurement takes place every year.
The court has directed Tasmac to submit by January 6 the copies of contracts it had entered into with the private breweries and distilleries. It has also called for the details regarding the quantum of liquor procured from them and the prices at which they had been supplied.
Tasmac has been ordered to submit the details in a sealed cover so that the court peruse it and decide whether there was any bar in disclosing the information to applicants under the Right to Information Act of 2005 on grounds of safeguarding trade secrets and ensuring commercial confidence.
The orders have been passed on a writ petition filed by Coimbatore-based advocate M. Loganathan in 2017.
The lawyer had submitted an application under the RTI Act in May 2015 seeking information for six of his queries related to income generated by the State government through sale of liquor in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
When his queries were answered only in part, he approached the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission in 2017. Thereafter, Tasmac Public Information Officer (PIO) answered five of his queries and explained details of expenditure incurred towards staff salary, payment of rent for retail shops and other administrative expenses.
However, the PIO refused to answer the query related to the quantum of liquor procured from individual distilleries and breweries and the cost at which such procurement took place on the ground that disclosure of the information would go against the commercial interests of the third parties involved in the issue.
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