The Supreme Court issued notice to the Center and the states on the petition filed against the sale of liquor in tetra packs. In the petition of an organization named Community Against Drunken Driving, it was said that this is happening due to ambiguity in the rules related to bottling of liquor. Health warnings are not being printed on tetra packs. By putting pictures of fruits on the packets, they are being shown as juice.

The petitioner has requested to ban liquor being sold in this manner. A few days ago, another such PIL was filed, in which a demand was made to ban country made liquor being sold in tetra packs in Uttar Pradesh. The Supreme Court had refused to hear this petition. In this, the decision of Uttar Pradesh was challenged, under which the sale of country liquor in tetra packs has been made mandatory under the new excise policy of UP.

Also read:- ‘Demonstrate, but do not harass people by taking to the streets’, CJI said on the demand to change the name of Navi Mumbai Airport.

On April 16, this petition was filed before Chief Justice Surya Kant, on which the CJI asked the petitioner to approach the state authorities for his complaint instead of coming directly to the court. The petitioner said that in this way the liquor being sold in tetra packs is easily reaching educational institutions, due to which incidents of crime and alcohol abuse are increasing.

The Uttar Pradesh government had defended this by saying that earlier country liquor was sold in bottles, but under the new excise policy, it has been decided to sell liquor in tetra packing, so that the safety standards can be increased and adulteration can be prevented.

Also read:- Supreme Court’s historic decision on stray dogs: ‘It is the fundamental right of citizens to live and roam without fear, the state should take action as per the rules’

(With inputs from Nipun Sehgal)