Hurdles in the way of reopening liquor shops were removed on Tuesday. The excise department and the liquor contractors entered into an agreement to reopen liquor shops from Wednesday after an interaction.
Thirty liquor contractors filed a petition in the Jabalpur High Court against the state government.
In the petition, the contractors said the government was violating the conditions of allotment of liquor contract.
The high court issued a notice to the state government seeking a clarification within two weeks.
In the petition, it was said that, when the contracts were allotted the government had said that they would be allowed to keep liquor shops open for 14 hours.
According to the petition, they were also allowed to set up an outlet along with the liquor shop.
The shops are closed for 40 days because of the lockdown, but the government has allowed reopening of shops with a fiat on timings.
Nevertheless, the court notice will make no difference in opening shops, because the court has not given any relaxations for timings. The liquor shops will reopen according to the state government’s order.
All shops will reopen in green zones, but in orange zone, other than those in containment areas, all will reopen.
The liquor shops in red zones and the ones in Bhopal, Indore and Ujjain districts will remain closed.
Liquor shops can be reopened only in rural areas in Gwalior, Jabalpur, Khandwa, Dhar, Devas and Badwani districts which come under red zone.
There is, however, no order to reopen liquor shops in the urban areas in these districts.
