High Court directs Courts to dispose of seized Liquor

The High Court of Madras has asked all the Criminal Courts in Tamil Nadu to take immediate measures for disposal of seized alcohol which are kept in their property rooms.

A division bench of Justices P N Prakash & T Krishnavalli passed the order after taking cognizance of the communication sent by the State Public Prosecutor A Natarajan to the registrar (judicial) of Madurai bench dated April 28 in which he sought for an appropriate direction for the fast disposal of alcohol items in Courts.

The State Public Prosecutor had cited an incident where the seized spirit had been stolen by addicts from the property room of Vedasandur Judicial Magistrate Court in Dindigul district. In his communication, Natarajan stated that since all the Tasmac outlets in the state were closed following the Covid-19 pandemic, some addicts stole spirit from the property room. Therefore, he sought for appropriate directions to the courts in the state to dispose of such alcohol items to avert the possibility of such thefts.

The Court ordered that it shall be open to all the Criminal Courts in the state to take speedy steps for disposal of alcohol items that are available in their property rooms, in the presence of the investigation officers after preparing an inventory & taking photographs or videos of destruction.

The order was passed by the Court on Thursday in a suo motu plea initiated in view of the lockdown. It extended all the interim orders till June 1.

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