Bengaluru, DHNS: As many as 1,500 liquor shops along state and national highways could shut down following a Supreme Court order on Thursday.

A?bench, headed by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur, directed the Union and the state governments to close all liquor shops located within 500 metres of the national and state highways. The court has given all such liquor shops time till March 31, 2017 to shut down.

At present, Rule 5 of the Karnataka Excise Licences (General Conditions) Act, 1967 fixes 220 metres as the distance for the location of liquor outlets from national and state highways. According to this rule, the Excise Department has identified 280 liquor shops located within 220 metres of the highways.

“The Excise Act needs amendment in view of the court’s judgement. We will conduct a fresh survey to identify shops violating Rule 5 after the act is amended. The department will write to licence holders who violate Rule 5 directing them to relocate their outlets,” A S?Vishwaroop, additional commissioner of excise told DH. According to B?Govindaraju, president, Federation of Wine Merchants Association (Karnataka), the order may affect about 1,500 outlets. There are 10,085 liquor outlets of all categories across Karnataka.

The Excise Department had conducted a survey recently and had identified 280 licence holders for violating Rule 5. The department had written to licence holders directing them to relocate their outlets at least 220 metres away from highways.

“We will write fresh letters to licence holders violating Rule 5 once the Excise Act is amended to meet the requirement of the court’s order,” Vishwaroop added.

Wine merchants, however, say it is very difficult to link the location of wine stores with fatalities on highways. “Highways pass through many cities where several liquor outlets exist. Drivers can still drink and drive. They may even buy liquor elsewhere and consume the drink after parking the vehicles on the roadside. Closure of liquor shops on highways may not help much in reducing fatalities,” Govindaraju said.

Govindaraju estimates that licence holders will suffer a loss of at least Rs 75 crore if 1,500 outlets are closed. The federation has decided to appeal to the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision besides demanding that the state government protect the interests of wine merchants. “We will approach the Supreme Court after analysing the judgement,” he said.