Team Herald
MARGAO: In his first public statement since losing the Assembly election from Nuvem, former MLA Mickky Pacheco has called the Supreme Court order banning liquor outlets along highways as “Illegal”.
Mickky said that the Supreme Court has no rights to make laws, but only to enforce the law. Mickky said that it is the legislature which makes or amends laws and not the court. Mickky also demanded that the government take a more proactive stand in protecting the liquor, tourism and food trade like the beef availability in Goa to protect the Goan ethos and commerce.
Addressing the media, Mickky said, “Recently, the Supreme Court has passed an order that all bars and restaurants and retail vendors of alcohol should be removed within 500 meters of national and State highways, just because one Harman Sidhu had filed a PIL in Supreme Court against liquor.”
“Has any State passed a law to ban liquor outlets within 500 meters of the Highway? So, why did the Supreme Court pass such a law, and why, in Goa, a State that relies on tourism and being an international tourist destination did not object to this?” asked the former tourism minister.
