S PERIASAMY Vs. GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) LIQUOR RUINS COUNTRY, FAMILY AND LIFE . Such are the evils of drinking. It is, therefore, the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act was enacted to prohibit the manufacture, sale and consumption of intoxicants. Not only the consumption of intoxicants, but also deriving income and revenue from the same, is a sin, as considered by Mahatma Gandhi , the father of our nation. But by revised policy decisions, the State proposed to augment public revenue by lifting the prohibition and adding the provisions in the Act and the Rules framed thereunder for granting licence for manufacture of intoxicants and for sale of the same in wholesale and retail, of course, by imposing a condition that no sale of liquor shall be made under the licence on Gandhi Jayanthi day, paying a tribute to our Mahatma . Are these not paradoxical?

(2.) SECTION 17-C of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act") enables the State Government to grant the exclusive privilege or other privilege to any person or persons manufacturing Indian-made foreign spirits or selling by retail, within any local area, while SECTION 17-D of the Act enables the State Government, by rules, to levy a sum or fee or both in consideration of the grant of any exclusive or other privilege under SECTION 17-C and also a fee on licences granted und er SECTION 17-C of the Act.

(3.) RULE 14 of the RULEs provides for renewal of licences for the second and third year for the privilege amount determined at 15% and 10% more than the privilege amount of the respective previous years, and therefore the licence is granted with the right of renewal for one block-year consisting three excise years totally.