An advocate has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in the Madras High Court, accusing many private clubs and hotels in the State of violating the liquor vending licence conditions of Tamil Nadu, by serving liquor beyond the stipulated times every day, and by allowing non members to consume liquor at their premises.
A summer vacation bench of Justices B. Pugalendhi and V. Lakshminarayanan is expected to hear the PIL petition on Thursday. The petitioner, P. Suresh Babu has sought a direction to the Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise to conduct surprise inspections at the premises of those holding FL2 and FL3 licences.
The petitioner said, the FL2 licence was issued to non proprietary clubs to serve liquor to members and guests who accompany the members. The FL3 licence was issued to serve liquor to hotel guests in their rooms. Both these licences were being misused widely by many clubs and hotels, he alleged.
Stating that the clubs were supposed to serve liquor only between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. as per the licence conditions, the litigant named some clubs in Chennai city and alleged that they remained open till 1 a.m. or 3 a.m., besides allowing non members to consume liquor beyond the permissible hours.
Though the petitioner had made a representation in this regard to the Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise on May 12, he said: “Even after receipt of the representation, the respondent had not even raised their little finger against the violators till date.”
