A Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday stayed the operation of an order passed by a single judge on January 31 directing Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) to close down all “bars” attached to its retail liquor shops within six months since there were no clear-cut legal provisions for their operation.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy granted the interim stay after being prima facie satisfied with the submission of Advocate-General R. Shunmugasundaram that the single judge had traversed beyond the scope of the writ petitions filed by those who sought contract for selling snacks in the “bars.”
While granting the stay on a writ appeal preferred by Tasmac, the first Division Bench also made it clear that the pendency of the writ appeal would not preclude the State government from bringing in appropriate amendments to the relevant laws in order to regulate the operation of the “bars”.
