The Madras High Court on Friday ordered the closure of state-run Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) liquor outlets across Tamil Nadu after violations of social distancing norms amid the COVID-19 lockdown were reported. The High Court, however, allowed online sale of liquor.
The court had earlier permitted liquor shops to open only under certain conditions and warned them against violation of norms.
On Wednesday, high court had refused to stay the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to re-open the TASMAC liquor outlets on Thursday, across the state, barring Chennai City Police limits.
The bench passed the order after the state government ruled out the means of liquor via online mode.
On May 4, the state government had announced that TASMAC liquor shops will be allowed to open in non-containment zones from May 7. The decision was taken as the neighbouring states of Andhra and Karnataka opened their liquor stores and residents from Chennai and other bordering districts were crossing over to buy alcohol.
The shops were ordered to function between 10 am and 5 pm and the government had stated that a distance of 6 feet would be maintained between customers and that additional staff would be deployed at the stores to ensure crowd control.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu reported 600 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, including 391 in Chennai alone, taking the state's tally above 6,000. A total of 2.16 lakh samples have been tested so far in the state. A total of 40 deaths have been reported so far in the state, with the mortality rate at 0.68%.
