Customers Can Lodge Police Complaints If TASMAC Employees Charge Them Above MRP For Liquor Bottles: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court, on Friday (August 7), observed that consumers can directly register police complaints if employees of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) overcharge them while purchasing liquor bottles. 

Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan has directed the state police to take swift action based on such consumer complaints. The court has also asked the Home Department to ensure that extra police personnel are deployed at crowded TASMAC outlets to manage the crowd. 

The court passed the orders on a plea seeking registration of an FIR against employees of certain TASMAC shops, under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, to recover excess amount collected by the employees. The petitioner had also sought disciplinary action against the employees, including dismissal from service for their involvement in such malpractice. 

The petitioner had approached the court after noting that 30 TASMAC shops were collecting Rs 10 over and above the prescribed sale price. He added that though a complaint regarding the same was submitted to the Managing Director of the TASMAC, no action was taken against the employees of the outlets, and such collection of excess amount continued. This continued inaction and failure of the authorities to discharge their statutory and public duties forced the petitioner to approach the court seeking reliefs as above. 

When the case was taken up previously, the Standing Counsel for TASMAC produced the stock verification register and bill books with respect to the disputed TASMAC Shops.

Upon perusing the documents, the court noted that the TASMAC shops were not maintaining bill books and consumers were not being provided with bills for their purchases.

Following this, the court directed the Director of TN DVAC, the Managing Director of the TASMAC, and the Senior Regional Manager of the TASMAC Limited to issue necessary directions to all TASMAC shops in Tamil Nadu to maintain bill books for every sale of bottles and to issue bills to consumers for each sale of bottles. The court also directed the TASMAC shops to maintain a queue while selling bottles. 

When the matter was again taken up for hearing on Friday, TASMAC informed the court that it had issued a circular to all shops directing them to issue bills to every consumer and maintain a queue system in the shops.

TASMAC informed the court that as per the circular, each liquor bottle was to be mandatorily scanned using a handheld device and a receipt was to be issued using an electronic printer installed at the store. Based on this receipt, a bill was to be generated for each sale and provided to the customer. It was also submitted that alcohol was not permitted to be sold to any customer without a bill, under any circumstance. 

As per the circular, all District Managers were directed to conduct surprise inspections periodically and take appropriate disciplinary action against the relevant shopkeeper, supervisor and other responsible officers for selling liquor without issuing a receipt or failing to follow the circular. 

The court took note of the circular issued by the TASMAC. It directed that any consumer could directly approach the police to register a complaint if he was sold alcohol at a price over and above the MRP.

With respect to the allegations made by the petitioner, the court directed the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption to look into the same, and closed the plea.

Case Title: G Devarajan v The Principal Secretary and others 

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Mad) 372

Case No: WP Crl. No. 1695 of 2026