Uttarakhand high court

NAINITAL: Uttarakhand high court on Friday sought a reply from the state government after a PIL filed in the court claimed that it had replaced the word “sell” in its excise act with “service” to bypass a Supreme Court order prohibiting the sale of liquor within 500metres of state and national highways.

The petitioners alleged that it was an attempt by Uttarakhand government to continue selling alcohol on the highways thereby diluting SC’s order which was passed to minimise accidents caused due to drunk driving. “The government has used the tactic to replace the word ‘sell’ with ‘service’ since all the guidelines by the SC has used the word ‘sell’. Now, fresh licences can be issued with the argument that the shops they are not selling the liquor but are providing a form of service, the PIL said. The SC had in December 2016 banned the sale of liquor within 500m of the state as well as National Highways . However, the court later clarified that the order did not apply to highways within city limits.

