The State Government has allowed the bars located in the Commissionerate police areas of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar to engage women to perform musical programmes with stringent conditions to ensure safety, security and dignity of the female employees.
The Department of Excise issued orders on Tuesday in this regard and informed the Member, Board of Revenue for necessary action at his end.
Following the Maharashtra model, the State Government allowed the bars in the twin city to engage women in licensed premises of IMFl restaurant/hotel “On” shops to perform musical programmes and orchestra parties if they apply for the same under Section 25 of the Bihar & Orissa Excise Act, 1915 with terms and conditions as laid down by the Supreme Court.
While the Supreme Court allowed women to organise musical programmes in bars of Maharashtra, such facilities were denied in Odisha, for which applicants appealed to the Orissa High Court. The court asked the Member, Board of Revenue to look into the matter and settle the issue.
However, the Government constituted a committee headed by Home Principal Secretary Asit Tripathy to prepare additional guidelines to be followed to safeguard any violation of the dignity of women and ensure improved working conditions of women engaged in IMFl restaurant/hotel “On” shops.
Excise Secretary Bishnupada Sethi and Commissioner of Police YB Khurania were the other members of the committee.
The committee after several sittings and rounds of discussions charted out additional guidelines, which have been approved by the Government, said sources.
The committee reportedly followed the Orissa High Court order in this regard, which prescribed the manner of application to be made seeking permission of the Board of Revenue to engage women in the licensed premises to perform in musical programmes.
Additional guidelines state that the applicant will have to provide the proof of identities of women containing their names and other details including their willingness to perform in musical programmes in bars.
The Board (State Excise Authority) shall verify the facts mentioned in the application before grant of permission. The applicant will have also to further seek licence under Section 29 of the Odisha Urban Police Act, 2003 in this regard.
The Commissionerate of Police of Twin City shall ensure that the terms and conditions of the licence granted to bar owners for carrying out the musical programmes.
The musical system installed in such a location needs to have sound limiters to allow the maximum volume as prescribed under the Noise Pollution (Regulation & Control) Rules, 2000.
The licensees will have to instal Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTVs) in the premises to ensure that the facilities cannot be tampered with and such recorded evidence can be verified by the police and excise authorities any time. Photo identity cards would be issued to all the women employees by the establishment and they would be displaying the IDs during programmes, said official sources.
looking at the requirements, the Government would issue further guidelines in future, said a senior official.