A Bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Amitava Roy and D Y Chandrachud said the court leaves it in the hands of State governments to decide after examining “whether an area covered by a local self-governing body is proximate to a municipal agglomeration or is sufficiently developed” to apply the exemption granted to municipal areas in the July 2017 order.
“In deciding as to whether the principle which has been set down in the order dated 11 July 2017 should be extended to a local self-governing body (or statutory development authority) the State governments would take recourse to all relevant circumstances including the nature and extent of development in the area and the object underlying the direction prohibiting the sale of liquor on national and the State highways,” the Supreme Court ordered.
The court said it is left open to individual licencees to submit their representations to the competent authorities in the State to obviate litigation before the High Courts and repeated recourse to applications to the apex court.
