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And genie pops out of the bottle!
EVEN AS schools welcome the High Court judgment on closure of liquor shops in 100 metre vicinity of schools, the State Excise Department and the contractors decide to move court against the orders. The High Court has ordered the closure of 53 shops within the distance of 100 metres from a school. ?Why only 100 metres, make it to 500 metres,? quipped the principal of Hoerner School Bala Mehra.
Liquor barons, Excise Dept to move court
EVEN AS schools welcome the High Court judgment on closure of liquor shops in 100 metre vicinity of schools, the State Excise Department and the contractors decide to move court against the orders.
The High Court has ordered the closure of 53 shops within the distance of 100 metres from a school.
“Why only 100 metres, make it to 500 metres,” quipped the principal of Hoerner School Bala Mehra. Reflecting similar sentiments, principal of Delhi Public School Anu Dhingra said the government must discourage liquor and paan shops within the vicinity of schools, as they tend to adversely affect young minds. Dr Manjula Goswami of Lucknow Public School said if the court orders were followed strictly, “we would consider that the State Government is willing to take a constructive step in that direction.”
Meanwhile, liquor shop owners planning to get united on the issue appeal in the higher court. Hari prasad Jaiswal, one of the contractors said re-location could never be an alternative as shop owners have already made an investment worth lakhs of rupees. He said the question of whether the shop came first or the school still remained to be answered, especially in light of the fact that many schools did not comply with government norms. “For establishing each shop one has to invest not less than Rs 20 lakh, and for one country-made liquor shop the traders invest at least Rs 15 lakh,” said Jaiswal and added that for setting up a model shop one has to invest not less than Rs 40 lakh. “In Punjab and Haryana there are clear directions in this regard, but not in Uttar Pradesh,” said Jaiswal.
About any alternative space, he said what was the point in it if we were sent to some remote places where we would have to struggle to get customers. He said refund would not be a solution as the investment would be many more times than the cost for procuring licences.
District excise officer M S Yadav said the last resort with the department was to move court, as it had been given the target of increasing the number of shops by 10 per cent during the current financial year. An officer said even shops established in 1968 would face the closure as per the HC directive.
