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The Supreme Court on Friday has said that mere proximity of a bar to a place of worship, if the statutorily prescribed distance of 100 meters is maintained between the two, is no ground for closing down the bar. Court added that some want to pray while other may want to have a drink, TOI reported.

The court was hearing a writ appeal against Madras High Court's judgment setting aside a single-judge bench's order directing the authorities to cancel the licence of Jothy Bar at a distance of 114.5 meters from the entrance of the Throwbathiammam Temple in Puducherry. 

The counsel for the petitioner had told the bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice B.V. Nagrathana that because of the small distance between the bar and the temple, many persons get drunk and cause ruckus reaching temple disturbing temple rituals and festivals. 

To this Chandrachud J. 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 it was argued that nuisance is created at the temple by those getting drunk at the bar, and even if the bar cannot be closed down, but it can be relocated in deference to the public sentiments, 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."

On July 16 this year, Madras High Court bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy had set aside a single judge bench's order directing the authorities to cancel the license of the bar stating that the distance from the outer extremity of the precincts of the bar to the entrance of the Throwbathiammam Temple was 114.5 meter, which was well in excess of the prohibited distance.

The High Court bench had stated that in the light of such finding, there did not appear any basis for the license cancellation of the relevant bar as the bar was neither located within the prohibited distance, nor it fell foul of any other condition.

However, the high court 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.