BENGALURU: Chief minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said the state government had no intentions to circumvent the Supreme Court order banning all liquor stores along the national highways and state highways. He, however, hastened to add that the government was trying to save the jobs of thousands of people who are dependent on these liquor stores.Responding to a question raised in the Legislative Council by Pranesh (BJP) and Bhanuprakash (BJP) on the government trying to circumvent the SC orders by taking a cabinet decision to denotify the NH and SH roads passing through urban local bodies (ULB), Siddaramaiah said: “We have no intentions to circumvent the SC order. The NH and SH roads passing through the municipalities are anyway maintained by the local bodies. We are just trying to denotify these stretch of roads and handing it over to the ULBs for better maintenance. Now, in the process the de-notification will save a lot of these liquor shops on whom thousands of people are dependent for jobs.”

When the BJP raised objections, citing that saving these liquor shops would mean continued harassment of women by drunk spouses and deterioration of health who are addicted to alcohol, Siddaramaiah said the government is not encouraging anyone to drink.

“But practically, prohibition of alcohol is not a feasible idea. Take for instance in Gujarat, where alcohol is prohibited by the BJP government over the last decade. Can anybody claim that liquor and drinking has completely been curbed?” questioned Siddaramaiah.

The CM said, keeping in line with the SC orders, notices to close liquor establishments have been issued to all those bars which are within 500 meters of the NH and SH in the state.

“We have issued the notices to close down the bars by June 30, keeping in line with the SC ruling. But we have also filed a review petition in this regard to save the jobs of people. The government decision is neither for or against drinking,” he said.

However, unhappy with the response, the BJP MLCs staged a walkout citing that the state government has taken the decision owing to the pressure by the liquor lobby.

Is the govt decision legally tenable?

While the state cabinet took a decision to indirectly help save 6,015 bars along 858 km of national highways and state highways, questions have been raised by Congress party MLC V S Ugrappa whether the order was legally tenable.

“The decision of trying to circumvent the supreme court decision is as good as defying the Constitution of the nation. The Constitution has incorporated that any decision given by the SC is the rule of the land. The government has to introspect whether the decision to denotify roads as NH and SH will in fact help the government legally in trying to save the bars in the state. For I am certain it will fall flat on its face,” said Ugrappa, boasting of his 30 years legal career as a lawyer.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah, while evading the question over the legal tenability of the order to denotify roads to save the bars and in turn the excise revenue for the government, said there is no intention to circumvent any orders of the SC.

“The government decision can be questioned if there was any intentions to circumvent the SC orders. There is none,” he said.