Supreme Court refuses to close a bar 120 m away from temple

New Delhi : Mere proximity of a watering hole to a place of worship, if the statutorily prescribed distance of 100 metres is maintained between the two, is no ground for closing down the bar, said the Supreme Court on Friday while observing that some wants to pray while some others may want to have a drink.

The bone of contention is the existence of Jothy Bar at a distance of 114.5 metres from the entrance of the Throwbathiammam Temple in Puducherry, well beyond the statutorily prescribed minimum distance of 100 metres between a watering hole and place of worship.
Appearing for a PIL petitioner, who had appealed against a Madras HC’s decision refusing to close down or relocate the bar, advocate Nandkumar told a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna that because of the small distance between the bar and the temple, many persons get drunk and then come to the temple creating ruckus and often disturb temple rituals and festivals. “Even if the bar is not closed down, it can be relocated in deference to the public sentiments,” he argued.

Justice Chandrachud said, “We do not want to hurt religious sentiments of the devotees. But, once the statutory distance between the two is maintained, there is little the courts can do legally. Moreover, the temple trust has not objected to the existence of the bar in close proximity Why should we interfere with the High Court decision?”
When Nandkumar yet again argued the nuisance created at the temple by those getting drunk at the bar, Justice Nagarathna said, “Even if the bar is at 500 metres or 1000 metres away, people who take drinks and then want to visit temple could also create the same kind of nuisance.”

A HC bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Senthilkumar Ramnamoorthy on July 16 had set aside a single judge bench’s order directing the authorities to cancel the license of the bar. On appeal, the division bench of the HC said. The distance from the outer extremity of the precincts of the bar to the entrance of the Throwbathiammam Temple is shown to be 114.5 metre, which is well in excess of the prohibited distance.
“In the light of such finding, there does not appear to be any basis for the licence granted to the relevant bar to be cancelled, since the bar is not located within the prohibited distance, nor does it fall foul of any other condition,” the HC bench had said.

However, the HC had clarified that the authorities could take necessary steps, if the land that separates the bar and the temple is used by the temple authorities for regular religious purposes.