SC bans liquor shops on national, state highways across India

The Supreme Court has ordered a ban on all liquor shops on national as well as state highways to reduce drink driving and road accidents that claim thousands of lives every year across the country.
The three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur gave its order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO called ‘Arrive Safe’.
The petitioner had mentioned that easy availability of liquor from stores on highways was a major reason for drunk driving. This results into around 1.42 lakh death annually in road accidents, many of which are caused by drunk driving.

Supreme Court order

• All liquor shops on national as well as state highways to be completely banned.
• Licenses of existing Liquor shops will not be renewed after March 31, 2017.
• All ads indicating presence of liquor vends must be prohibited on national and state highways.
• Liquor Shops must be at least 500 metres away from the outer edge of the highways or service lanes.
• This ban will also extend to stretches of such highways that fall within limits of municipal corporations, city towns and local authorities.

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