Madras High Court reads down Tasmac circular, says there cannot be community guilt and collective punishment

Madras High Court strikes down Tasmac circular on collective punishment for overcharging, emphasizing need for evidence of collusion.

The Madras High Court has read down a Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) circular which had warned that not only the salesman but all the staff, including the supervisor, of a retail liquor shop would be proceeded against if there are complaints of overcharging the customers.

Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy said the theory of community guilt and collective punishment could not be accepted by the courts unless there were materials to believe that there had been a clear case of collusion between the staff concerned to make money by collecting extra amount.

The orders were passed while disposing of a writ petition filed by one of the Tasmac employees association based at Chembarambakkam in Chennai. The association had challenged the circular issued by the corporation on October 29, 2024 with respect to initiation of departmental action.

The judge took note that a circular issued in 2019 had clearly laid down disciplinary action such as imposition of fine, suspension and so on against the salesmen who are found to be guilty of overcharging. However, the 2024 circular ended up fixing joint responsibility on all the staff in the liquor shop concerned.

Stating that joint responsibility could not be fixed in every other case, the judge clarified that it could be done only if there was collusion between the staff. The orders were passed after hearing activisit S. Muralidharan too who had got impleaded in the writ petition to assist the court.

The judge also recorded the submission of Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran that the disciplinary rules for Tasmac employees were being drafted and that all retail liquor shops, run by Tasmac across the State, would be computerised by the end of March 2025 in order to prevent malpractices.