New Delhi: The Supreme Court issued notice to the Center and other respondents on Wednesday on a plea seeking an immediate ban on the sale of liquor in tetra packs and sachets citing concerns over drunk driving and easy access. A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi, agreed to hear the petition filed by the organization ‘Community Against Drunken Driving’.Advocate Vipin Nair, appearing for the petitioner, argued before the court that the definition of “bottle” under the excise duty regime remains “vague” and requires standardization.“They are confusing fruit juice with alcohol. They use the picture of an apple and the pack contains vodka,” he said, stressing that it is the state’s responsibility to protect the health of citizens.The petition seeks direction to the Center to make a uniform policy for all states and union territories and immediately ban the sale of liquor in packaging formats like tetra packs and pouches.Prince Singhal, a road safety expert and founder of Community Against Drunken Driving (CADD), said, “It is the moral duty of the state to improve nutrition, standard of living, improve health, but in this case it appears that the state is only focusing on increasing revenue by exposing the public to excessive consumption of alcohol, especially the youth. The state government is prioritizing revenue over public health.”He said, “Selling liquor in tetra packs is profitable for the producers due to low cost of production, less wastage, easy portability. It is also beneficial for the government as it increases sales, it is also attractive for the customer along with increase in revenue. But in all this the population is drinking more.”The plea also sought directions to the Center to formulate a policy requiring states to amend their respective excise laws, rules and policies to adopt a uniform definition of “bottling”, restricting it to glass containers or other clearly distinguishable containers.