Patna, June 29: Patna High Court on Wednesday directed the government not to take any coercive action against toddy tappers who were selling their produce adhering to the existing laws.

"Don't act beyond your jurisdiction. Don't harass the people unnecessarily. Enforce the rule that you have made. Your action should not go beyond the ambit of the rules," the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh said.

The court issued the order in response to a PIL filed by Taadi Vyawsay Kalyan Sangh (Toddy Tappers' Welfare Association) functionary Narendra Kumar alleging that government officials were harassing the community and arresting them on "frivolous" grounds since prohibition was clamped.

Confusion gripped the toddy business soon after the government ordered total prohibition on April 5.

Toddy tappers demonstrated on the streets all across the state against "harassment" by government officials and police.

Later, the government published an advertisement clarifying there was no change in the laws governing the toddy business and the notification issued in 1991 by the then government (when Lalu Prasad was chief minister) in context of toddy stands.

The 1991 notification allowed the people to tap toddy and carry out business, except near religious shrines, schools, hospitals and in other public places.

But chief minister Nitish Kumar, while addressing a review meeting at Muzaffarpur on May 28, announced toddy would be brought within the ambit of prohibition from next year, triggering outrage within the community which filed a PIL in court.

The petitioner's counsel, Dinu Kumar, had earlier argued before the high court that the police were ignoring the stipulated rules and regulations and were treating toddy tappers like illegal liquor sellers and harassing them.

The counsel also argued that the police and excise officials had lodged 100 FIRs against the toddy tapping Pasi community in the last two months, which amounted to a "witch hunt". The toddy tapping community constitutes about 20 lakh of the state's population.

The bench directed the petitioners to approach the "appropriate" forum in case they were harassed.