Tamil Nadu TUCS to monitor sale of crackers in island territory amid legal controversy | Chennai News

Chennai: Government of Tamil Nadu decided to transfer the retail sale of crackers Triplicane City Cooperative Society (TUCS) Limited, which will now open 50 stores in Island territories and allocate 46 of them to retailers this year. Four of the kiosks will be used by TUCS itself.
A statement in this regard was made in the Madras high court by Additional Advocate General J Ravindran and Government Special Advocate Yogesh Kannadasan on Tuesday when the matter in question came up for hearing before Justice M Dhandapani.
The government also told the court that it has decided to withdraw the tender already floated by the tourism department for the sale of crackers at Island Grounds.
TUCS will pay Rs 82.6 lakh as land lease to the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation, the government said. The bids were submitted at the request of the Chennai Fireworks Dealers Welfare Association, which had challenged the tender announced by the tourism department as arbitrary.
Recording the submissions, Justice M Dhandapani allowed the state to proceed and dismissed the suit.
The issue relates to a suit filed by an association alleging that the TN government had floated a tender for allotment of shops to sell crackers for Diwali despite a ban imposed by the court. The association wanted the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the tourism minister for violating the court order.
Earlier, when the matter came up for hearing, Justice M Dhandapani questioned why the state could not organize the sale of crackers when it sells liquor. The association wanted the court to direct the authorities to allocate space for setting up cracker stalls for Diwali.
According to the petitioner, the failure of the authorities to act on their behalf is unjust, inequitable and arbitrary. The association’s legitimate request should be considered by the government without any further delay, it said.