Close all illegal bars in Tamil Nadu, says Madras high court

Chennai: Appalled over the report filed on behalf of the Tasmac that 3,326 FIRs are registered in connection with illegal bars running in the state, the Madras high court has directed the secretary, home, prohibition and excise to close all illegal bars immediately and report to the court by February 20.

A division bench comprising Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad gave the directive while passing interim orders on a petition filed by D. Prabakaran of Coimbatore district which sought a direction to home and excise department to prevent and detect fraudulent acts in Tasmac in respect of issuing and collecting license fee from bars

When the petition came up for hearing, a report was filed on behalf of Tasmac, in which it was stated that from April 2018 to December 2018, on surprise checks conducted by Senior division manager and district managers of Tasmac 2,505, illegal bars were found and when the head office squad checked, 20 illegal bars were found and when the deputy collectors and flying squad inspected, 801 illegal bars were found and in total it was 3,326 illegal bars and FIRs were registered.

The bench said, “The secretary to government, home, prohibition and excise department is directed to collect the details of illegal bars from the district collectors and district managers of Tasmac of all the districts and issue a direction to forthwith close all illegal bars and report the same to the court by February 20, 2019”.