DNA Edit: Liquor vend ban along highways no ‘hic, hic , hurray’ for jobs and biz

The Supreme Court judgment banning liquor vends in the vicinity of highways was intended to curb drunken driving. But the closure of thousands of bars and liquor outlets as a result of this judgment had an unintended consequence: lakhs of people were left jobless and dealt a death blow to businesses contributing thousands of crores of rupees to the GDP and a valuable source of excise revenue for state governments. In the judgment, the Supreme Court rejected the contention that it was indulging in policy making by citing the advisories sent frequently by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to state governments to not issue fresh licences or renew old licences to liquor vends along highways. The fact that these central advisories did not create any perceptible change in the state government attitude to such liquor vends, indicates that the latter would have weighed the pros and cons of the matter. In contrast to the wisdom of the Centre which stopped at issuing advisories, the judiciary decided that the advisory needed to become compulsory.

Not surprisingly, the subversion of the judgment has already begun. Chandigarh took the lead by redesignating state highways as district highways. The Maharashtra government cleared proposals from three municipal corporations to classify highways along their jurisdiction as city roads. Himachal Pradesh re-notified 16 state highways as “major district roads” and Bengal has classified state highways as “arterial roads”. In many cities, front entrances of liquor vends towards highways are being shut and back doors are being created. The cheekiest instance has come from Kerala, which is currently ushering in phased prohibition by banning the sale of hard liquor in bars and giving licences solely to beer and wine parlours. A beer parlour in Ernakulam cheekily created a rear entrance where a patron has to walk through a maze-like structure which ensures a 500 metre walking distance from the adjacent highway. 

Historically, most cities and towns in India have grown along the main roads passing through them, prompting many of these roads to be designated as national and state highways. The redesignation of these roads as district highways is a retrograde step. The micro economy of cities and towns will be particularly affected by the closure of outlets serving liquor due to the loss of jobs among local residents. The tourism industry, which is emerging as a money-spinner for the economy, will be particularly hard hit. In 2015, the travel and tourism industry contributed $125 billion to the GDP, which is six per cent of the GDP, and provided 23 million jobs. Goa, a small state, heavily dependent on tourism and with a high concentration of liquor vends is witnessing an outcry. Even Gujarat has recognised that prohibition was not helping boost tourism despite a full-fledged marketing campaign to project Gujarat prompting the state to allow liquor in five-star hotels. 

Such hard knocks on the economy also reflect poorly on India’s reputation for policy stability. Foreign investment shies away from countries marked by uncertain regulatory environments. Many outlets have acquired licences after shelving out huge amounts of money. 

State excise departments have clarified that their licences do not stand cancelled but will have to relocate. The Centre, state governments, and municipal corporations must come up with a concrete plan to combat drunken driving.