Tamil Nadu : The Madras High Court on Friday ordered closure of all state-run TASMAC liquor shops in Tamil Nadu and permitted only online sale of liquor in the state.
The court found violation of social distancing norms at the stores and said liquor is not an essential item and ordered the closure until 17 May, when the lockdown imposed by Centre is supposed to end.
Madras HC judges saw the video footage of TASMAC shops of last 48 hours and agreed with the people who filed the case that MHA guidelines have been violated and ordered the closure of the stores with immediate effect.
Opposition leader, DMK president M.K. Stalin, has been claiming that opening of liquor shops would lead to further increase in the spread of coronavirus.
The state is said to have sold close to ₹170 crore worth of liquor since opening its stores on Thursday.
With 600 more fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours in the state, Tamil Nadu’s novel coronavirus count today increased to 6,009, said health minister C Vijayabhaskar. Also, the death toll in the state reached 40.
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