High Court chides state, minister over toddy row

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The Kerala high court on Thursday took the state government to task for not taking any strong action to curb the sale of spurious toddy.

The court, which said it was not against the sale of natural toddy, however criticised excise minister K Babu for his remarks against a division bench’s directive to consider toddy prohibition.

“If the people in power adopt the policy of court-bashing instead of thinking in terms of adopting such policies to safeguard the health of the people, the poor people of this state will be forced to believe that the priority of the authorities is not the welfare of the people but mere appeasing of vote banks,” Justice S. Siri Jagan observed.

The court observed that if the sale of toddy cannot be prohibited, what the government could do was to ensure that only natural toddy tapped from palm trees was sold by licensees.

The government was finding fault with the high court for pointing out the unhealthy practices in the toddy business without looking at the spirit in which the court raised the issue, it said.

The court noted that the quantity of the toddy sold in the state far outweighed the quantity of its production. The toddy sold is spuriously made from chemicals that were harmful to the health. Instead of finding ways to control the situation, politicians were taking on the high court.

“Politicians are more concerned about the jobs of a few toddy workers than the health of the people who consume spurious toddy,” it said.

The court also observed, “The excise minister even made a statement that the people will decide what they should drink, and not the court. If people can decide what they should do, why should there be laws like compulsory wearing of helmets by riders of two wheelers,” the court asked.

While referring to natural toddy, the court observed that the state should find ways and means for developing a project for commercial production of soft drinks from toddy. It was considering a petition seeking acquittal in an abkari case. It acquitted Raju of Mavelikkara on technical grounds after the prosecution failed to prove the case against him.