By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The West Garo Hills district administration sealed a liquor store which was operating close to a school and a church after the Shillong Bench of the Gauhati High Court ordered for its closure on the grounds it had violated the norms of the Meghalaya Excise laws. There was also large scale public protest against the shop.
The High Court’s order passed by Justice P K Saikia pulled up the state government for such violations by stating in its order that, “the state respondents had issued license to the respondent No. 4 (Neirush M Sangma) allowing to open a wine store, and that too, within a radius of 100 meters from the Upper Primary School as well as Church in Daluagre village which is nothing but gross violation of the Meghalaya Excise Act and the rules framed there-under.”
The directive of the High Court can have far reaching impact on the manner in which licenses are issued as it is being alleged that the Meghalaya Excise Department seldom does comprehensive inquiry before issuing license for setting up of liquor stores.
The High Court took up the matter after a writ was filed seeking the closure of the wine store by the villagers of Daluagre, under Dobasipara police beat house.
Hundreds of villagers under the aegis of the Daluagre Area Joint Action Committee (JAC) had protested the opening of the wine store at Daluagre village since December 2011. The villagers had protested on the grounds that the wine store was set up at Daluagre village but claimed to be in the vicinity of Baromile Bazar.
The setting up of the wine store was found by the Shillong Bench of the Guwahati High Court to have violated the Meghalaya Excise Act because there was an upper primary school and a church in the vicinity of the shop’s establishment.
It was found during a magisterial enquiry conducted by West Garo Hills district administration that there was a government upper primary school located only 63 meters from the wine store. The Jenggitchakgre Baptist Church was also located just 105 meters away.
The court was also critical of the state Excise Department for failing to follow proper guidelines before allotting of the license and refusing to listen to the public’s grievances.
“Villagers, school authority as well as the church had made several representatives to the Deputy Commissioner of Excise, West Garo Hills, requesting them to act upon the matter. The representations, so made, however, failed to evoke adequate response from the authority to whom such representations were made,” pointed out the high court. Giving out its order for sealing of the shop, the West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner also mentioned that for the issuance of the license to wine stores, a proper enquiry in the locality should precede the granting of license for any wine store.
The order also stated that it is essential to ensure that the shop should not be located at sites to which the neighbours object and which is as far as possible at a reasonable distance from religious, educational and other similar buildings or institutions.