States can relax highway liquor ban

States can relax highway liquor ban

Context:

• The Supreme Court gave the State governments the discretion to decide, on facts, whether areas covered by local self-governing bodies or areas proximate to municipal pockets should be exempted from the court’s nationwide prohibition on sale of liquor within 500 metres along the highways.

Background:

• On July 11, 2017, the court exempted municipal areas from the prohibition.
• The purpose of the ban, imposed in a December, 2016 judgment, was to prevent drunken driving along these busy thoroughfares.

Clarification sought

• States, especially Tamil Nadu, came to the court, asking whether panchayats would also come under the definition of “municipal areas” mentioned in the July 11 order.
• Tamil Nadu said “municipal areas” were not “intended to exclude areas within the jurisdiction of local self-governing bodies.”
• The States reasoned that in future, these panchayats might be developed in a manner similar to municipalities, or some of them might be geographically proximate to an urban agglomeration.
• They sought a clarification about the “obvious uncertainties” thrown open by the order.