Tasmac should be transparent, says High Court

CHENNAI: State-run Tasmac should be transparent and the price of liquor is not a trade secret, the Madras High Court said on Friday.

In 2017, Loganathan from Coimbatore had moved the Madras High Court against Tasmac's refusal to provide information under the Right to Information Act (RTI) about the procurement, quantity and price.

When this came up for hearing before the Justice SM Subramaniam on Friday, the counsel of the petitioner contended that it was wrong to refuse to provide the information on the grounds that it was a trade secret, it was wrong to reject the application without considering the provisions of the Right to Information Act and since the procurement of alcoholic beverages for Tasmac was not a trade secret, the order refusing to provide information should be quashed.

On the other side, the counsel for the state government argued that these details could not be provided as the transactions between the companies regarding the procurement of liquor were trade secrets and the disclosure of the information would affect the business.

Subsequently, the government submitted a report of the procurement and price of liquor in a sealed envelope based on the order issued by the court.

After hearing all the arguments, Justice SM Subramaniam said that the details of the price at which liquor is procured from which company cannot be considered as a trade secret. "The state-run Tasmac should be transparent and that the price of liquor is not a business secret. Public interest is involved in Tasmac and a large amount has been received as profit and the amount is used for government welfare schemes," said the court. The judge ordered disclosure of these details and quashed the earlier order of refusing to provide the details.