BJP will publish a ‘White Paper’ on Tasmac, says Annamalai

The ‘White Paper’, according to the BJP leader will show how the State government’s dependence on Tasmac for revenue can be avoided; BJP organised a protest condemning the State government for the recent tragedy in which 22 people died after consuming spurious liquor

Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai on Saturday said that his party will soon publish a “White Paper” which will show how the State government’s dependence on Tasmac for revenue can be avoided.

Addressing the media after a protest organised here by the BJP condemning the State government for the recent tragedy in which 22 people died after consuming spurious liquor, he said this would be the first time a party not in power would be bringing out such a report. He said the report would comprehensively show how the government could tap into alternative sources for revenue, regulate Tasmac better, and drastically reduce the number of shops.

He said the report would expose the arguments of the DMK government that closing down of Tasmac shops would lead to increased prevalence of illicit liquor and loss of revenue to the government.

He alleged that no other State in the country had such a high number of liquor shops like Tamil Nadu. Arguing that the percentage of people addicted to alcohol has more than doubled than what it was in the past two decades, he said the Tasmac model followed in the State was becoming unsustainable.

He alleged that the State was not just dependent on the revenue from Tasmac, but was actively trying to push the sales up by pressurising officials. He further alleged that the breweries run by those close to the ruling party were making huge money, a significant portion of which ought to be ideally going to the State exchequer.

He said the report to be brought out by his party would show how 80% of the Tasmac shops could be shut down in the near future. The party had organised protests in multiple places across the State on Saturday over the issue.

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the election of DMK leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi as an MP from Thoothukudi Lok Sabha constituency in 2019. A Bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela Trivedi dismissed the election petition against Ms. Kanimozhi, represented by senior advocate P. Wilson, and allowed her appeal. The Supreme Court had stayed the election petition proceedings in the Madras High Court in 2020.

The judgment, authored by Justice Trivedi, held that the election petition filed by A. Santhana Kumar against Ms. Kanimozhi “made very bald and vague allegations without stating the material facts as to how there was noncompliance of any of the provisions of the Constitution of India or of the Representation of People (RP) Act.” Laying down the law, the court defined ‘material facts’ to include the complete bundle of facts that formed the basis of the allegations in an election petition.

Mr. Wilson had argued that Mr. Kumar had not brought a single material fact to substantiate his case that Ms. Kanimozhi’s nomination was improper. The High Court had proceeded on the notion that Ms. Kanimozhi refused to disclose the Permanent Account Number (PAN) of her spouse. Ms. Kanimozhi had submitted that her nomination records clearly stated that her husband did not have a PAN card.

“The appellant [Ms. Kanimozhi] has clearly mentioned that her spouse does not have a PAN number. If the first respondent [Mr. Kumar] herein contends that this statement is wrong, he ought to substantiate the allegation that the statement is incorrect. When the appellant has not made any averment that her spouse possesses a PAN or any