Madras HC Orders FIRs for Non-Issuance of Bills at Tasmac Liquor Outlets

The Madras High Court has directed the police to register criminal cases whenever they receive complaints regarding the non-issuance of bills for liquor sales at Tasmac retail outlets across the state.

Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan issued the directions on Tuesday while hearing a petition concerning overcharging and irregularities at Tasmac shops. The court also ordered the Home Secretary to provide adequate police protection and assistance to all Tasmac outlets as needed to regulate crowds, enforce proper queue discipline, and maintain public order with immediate effect.

The order came in response to a plea moved by G Devarajan, who stated that he ended up paying Rs 25,000 in excess of the maximum retail price across 30 Tasmac shops in Chennai. The petitioner sought directives to bring Tasmac shops under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to recover the excess amounts collected from consumers.

Earlier, on July 31, the court had passed an interim order directing Tasmac to make it mandatory to provide bills to consumers for every purchase and to maintain a queue system across all shops.

During Tuesday's hearing, Tasmac submitted a copy of a circular dated August 6 issued to all regional managers and shop personnel directing them to strictly follow the billing and queue mandates. Tasmac informed the court that outlets across the state are now mandatorily issuing bills and maintaining queues.

However, the petitioner pointed out that despite these structural instructions, his specific complaints regarding past overcharging had not been addressed, and no departmental or legal action had been taken against the personnel at the 30 retail outlets.