Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to denotify some state highways, paving way for the reopening of a good number of liquor outlets.

The state cabinet took the crucial decision in a bid to overcome the Supreme Court order that had banned sale of liquor in a radius of 500 meter from national and state highways.

As per the decision, the state highways in urban areas will be denotified. With this, 129 beer-wine parlors will be reopened. Of these, 70 outlets, which belong to three-star or above categories, will be allowed to sell liquor as per the LDF government's liquor policy. The denotification will also pave way for reopening of 76 toddy parlors, 10 liquor outlets and four clubs with license to serve liquor.

Earlier, states like Punjab had surpassed the apex court order by denotifying highways. Kerala has examined the documents relating to this.

The Supreme Court issued the order on December 15 last year, aiming at reducing number of road accidents. Though some people had moved the apex court challenging the denotification of highways, the court made it clear that it would not interfere in the states' procedure.

However, the court said it would examine if the denotification move was aimed at surpassing its order alone. The Kerala government hopes that even if some challenge its move, there will be a favorable verdict from the court.

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