Why don’t you consider lifting ban on toddy in Tamil Nadu, Madras High Court, ACJ, asks state government.

Madras High Court Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) D Krishnakumar on Monday asked why the state government should not consider lifting the ban imposed in 1986 on the sale of toddy, especially in the wake of the recent liquor-related tragedies that claimed many lives.

Presiding over the first division bench of the bench along with Justice K. Kumaresh Babu, the ACJ said the poor, who could not afford to buy Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) from the shops of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac), seem to be losing their lives to counterfeit liquor.

Therefore, “it may be time for you to reconsider the ban,” the ACJ said while hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by S. Muralidharan, an employee of a Chennai-based IT company, seeking to declare the 1986 amendment to the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937, illegal.

In his affidavit, the petitioner stated that the process of extracting sap from palymrah trees and fermenting it to make toddy was an age-old tradition passed down from generation to generation. For centuries, this process had formed a staple of daily life in rural communities in Tamil Nadu, he claimed.

Claiming that fresh toddy, before it ferments into alcoholic beverage, also has several health benefits, the petitioner said a blanket ban on toddy was a disproportionate exercise, especially when much stronger spirits such as IMFL were being made available in the market through Tasmac.

He said the government could lift the ban and regulate the sale of toddy to prevent recurrence of alcohol-related tragedies like the ones that took place in Kallakurichi and Marakkanam recently. He added that the Tamil Nadu Toddy Federation had also been making this demand for the last 37 years.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court judge made it clear that the issue of lifting the ban on toddy was a policy decision to be taken by the government and the court could not give positive directions on such issues. He, however, said that the government could consider the possibility of lifting the ban.

On another request by the petitioner to start selling IMFL in supermarkets and ration shops, the ACJ said such request was made only in view of the corruption charges levelled against Tasmac and could be resolved by appropriate action by the prohibition department.

The ACJ has asked state government counsel A. Edwin Prabakar to seek directions by July 29 on action taken by the department on complaints of IMFL liquor bottles being sold at prices above the maximum retail price in almost all Tasmac retail outlets across the state.