New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on a batch of petitions seeking revocation or modification of its order banning the liquor vends on the national and state highways from April 1, stressing that its order was “only in the interest of the public health.”
“You have no freedom to drink and drive on the national highway,” said Justice D Y Chandrachud who had authored the December 15 judgment prohibiting the liquor shops up to 500 metres on both sides of the highways. He intervened when Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and other lawyers said the ban was not only unconstitutional but also hurting the state exchequer.
He was sitting on a Bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh and Justice L Nageswara Rao hearing a batch of petitions by the state governments and private parties who knocked at the CJI’s court on Tuesday for urgent hearing in view of the fast-approaching deadline of April 1.
