Chennai: The Madras High Court on Wednesday imposed a cost of Rs 20,000 and dismissed a PIL seeking to restrain state-run TASMAC from commencing online retail sale of liquor without making available a mobile app or website for the purpose.
A special bench of Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana directed petitioner, advocate Ramkumar Adityan, to remit the cost to the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund.
It was on the petitioner's another public interest litigation petition that the court had on May 8 directed closure of the liquor shops till the end of COVID-19 lockdown, a day after they had re-opened after over 40 days.
The court had then gave the interim order, saying its earlier guidelines on liquor sales to ensure social distancing and other safety measures against COVID-19 had been violated.
The Tamil Nadu government has moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court order.
