The Supreme Court on Friday said hotels and restaurants falling within 500 metres on either side of the national and state highways cannot serve liquor.

The top court, by its December 15, 2016 order, had banned liquor shops within 500 metres on either side of the national and state highways.

A bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice L. Nageswara Rao, however, relaxed the ban by reducing it to 220 metres in respect of municipal/local bodies with 20,000 or less population falling along the highways.

While the top court exempted Sikkim and Meghalaya from the ban altogether, it brought Himachal Pradesh in the ban limit of 220 metres as applicable to local bodies adjoining the highways with 20,000 or less population.

The court declined to provide any relief to Tamil Nadu which had sought more time to implement the December 15 order.

The top court's order on Friday came on a batch of applications filed by some state governments and the owners of hotels and restaurants located along the highways seeking modification of the December 15 order.