LAWS(KER)-2017-1-62

ANOOP Vs. STATE OF KERALA

Decided On January 12, 2017
ANOOP Appellant
V/S
STATE OF KERALA Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Introduction:

(2.) Anoop M.S., the appellant, has a profession: he taps rubber trees and extracts latex. He taps about 400 trees a day. For this he works from 6 in the morning till 2 in the afternoon. Anoop has a habit: given what he calls it to be his"hectic work schedule", he finds his solace in "consuming small quantities" of liquor purchased from the retail outlets of Kerala State Beverages Corporation (KSBC) and Kerala State Co-operative Federation; that is, the second and third respondents. Liquor is his "daily diet." This daily diet makes Anoop "rejuvenated,relaxed," and even "physically fit,"as if it were the elixir of his life. Anoop is KSBC's loyal consumer, so to say.

(3.) Before 2014-15, when the Government introduced a new Abkari Policy ("the New Policy"), Anoop took his daily diet from the "bar hotels". Because of the New Policy, now he could not have access to bar-hotels but is constrained to buy liquor from the Government outlets. It costs him more.