HC stays Kerala’s move to sell liquor to tipplers

KOCHI: The

Kerala HC

on Thursday stayed the state government’s decision to make arrangements for sale of

liquor

to people with medically certified

alcohol withdrawal syndrome

during the ongoing lockdown.


The division bench of Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Shaji P Chaly issued the order in response to petitions filed by Congress MP TN Prathapan and the

Kerala Government Medical

Officers’ Association. The hearing was conducted through videoconferencing.

The medical officers’ association had argued that no doctor could prescribe liquor as a cure for alcohol withdrawal syndrome because it was against the basic tenets of medicine.

State attorney KV Sohan claimed that allowing consumption of liquor in moderate quantities was an established medical practice while treating withdrawal symptoms.

Terming the state government’s move a recipe for disaster, the court said there was no medical literature supporting the theory that withdrawal symptoms could be cured by prescribing liquor consumption in moderate quantities.