TASMAC adversities: On Tamil Nadu liquor sale

The conflict between financial health and public health is rather real for the States. Faced with dwindling income due to the stagnancy in financial activity given that the nationwide lockdown started, States are desperate to raise cash to fight illness spread and to keep their public health services going. It is this desperation that led Tamil Nadu to rush to the Supreme Court to obtain a stay on a Madras High Court order barring the sale of liquor through its stores and mandating online sales alone. The top court seems to be mindful of the need to maintain the policy space of States, shown in its various interim orders declining to stop alcohol sales. In one case, it declined a blanket stay on opening liquor stores; in another it suggested online sale and house shipment, however did not wish to impose the alternative on any government. In TN’s case, it has actually stayed the HC order, leading the way for resumption of sales through outlets of the State-run TASMAC. The Madras High Court initially allowed the State government to open its huge network of liquor shops, subject to a number of conditions for preserving physical distancing. Nevertheless, the State experienced terrible scenes of unmanageable cro