Chennai: Madras high court has directed the police to register criminal cases if they receive complaints of non-issuance of bills for liquor sale at Tasmac retail outlets across the state.“The home secretary is directed to provide adequate police protection and assistance to all Tasmac outlets across the state, as and when required, to regulate consumer crowds, enforce proper queue discipline, and maintain public order with immediate effect,” Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan said on Tuesday.The court passed the order on a plea moved by G Devarajan who ended up paying 25,000 in excess to the MRP at 30 Tasmac shops in Chennai.He wanted the court to bring Tasmac shops within the fold of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to recover the entire amount collected from consumers.On July 31, the court passed an interim order directing Tasmac to make it mandatory to provide bills to consumers for each purchase and maintain a queue system in all the shops.When the plea came up for hearing on Tuesday, Tasmac submitted a copy of a circular dated Aug 6 issued to all regional managers and shop personnel directing them to provide bills to consumers and to maintain a queue system. It was submitted that all Tasmac shops across the state were now mandatorily issuing bills for each purchase and are strictly maintaining consumer queues during sales.The petitioner submitted that despite the structural changes, the specific complaints lodged by the petitioner concerning past overcharging have not been considered, and no departmental or legal action has been initiated against the erring personnel of 30 retail outlets.Recording the submission, the court directed Tasmac to conduct a preliminary inquiry and submit a report to DVAC within eight weeks. Upon receipt of the report, DVAC is directed to take departmental and legal action against the officials.
