The Madras High Court on Friday said that Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) should close down all liquor shops run by it from unauthorised private buildings, which does not possess valid building plan permissions issued by the jurisdictional local bodies or other authorities concerned.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad was of the view that Tasmac, being a State entity, could not be allowed to run its business from unauthorised buildings. The law applicable to private individuals would equally apply to government entities too, the judge said.
It was while dealing with a public interest litigation petition on January 4 that the court had called for details of liquor shops that were in unauthorised buildings which had been constructed either without obtaining any planning permission from the local body concerned or in violation of the authorised building plan.
Then, a Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and P. Rajamanickam directed the Managing Director of Tasmac to also disclose to the court by next month the number of liquor shops and bars that were being operated from pucca buildings and those that were functioning from enclosures with asbestos or thatched roofs.