The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the State Government to grant licences to 22 more bars attached to Four-Star category hotels
causing yet another setback to its liquor policy envisaging total liquor ban in the next ten years.
As per the order of the single-judge Bench of Justice K Surendra Mohan, the Government should within two months take a decision on applications for licences submitted for 22 bars in the Four-Star category. The order came on the petitions filed by bar owners who complained about discrimination in the matter of allotment of licences.
However, Excise Minister K Babu said that the Government was not intending to issue licences to these bars immediately. “There is no need to take a decision in haste. We have two months’ time. We would examine the legal options,” Babu said admitting that it seemed that the Judiciary had not yet been convinced about the Government’s liquor policy.
As per the liquor policy, all bars in the State except those in the 21 Five-Star category hotels had to be closed down to facilitate the Government’s plan to implement Prohibition in ten years. As part of this, the 418 bars closed on March 31 for lack of facilities were not to be reopened, the remaining 291 were to be closed down in September and no new bar licences were to be allotted.
An October 30 order of the same single-judge Bench upheld the closure of bars in the Two-Star and Three-Star hotels as per the liquor policy but allowed the bars at 33 Four-Star and eight heritage hotels to operate in addition to those at the Five-Star hotels. The following day, a Division Bench allowed all the 291 bars to function till the settlement of the bar-related cases.
On November 15, the court asked the Government to take a decision on allotting licences to ten Four-Star hotels. With Tuesday’s order, the total number of bars that could function in the State even if the Two-Star and
Three-Star bars were to be closed rose to 94, effectively defeating the purpose and spirit of the Government’s liquor ban policy.
“Today’s court order to allot licences to 22 Four-Star bars is in accordance with the October 30 order to let the Four-Star bars function. But we don’t intend to implement that order right now. We have appealed against the October 30 order and will examine whether a separate appeal against the new order is necessary,” said Excise Minister Babu.
The single-judge Bench had on October 30 allowed Four-Star hotels to function on the basis of a Supreme Court order that there was no need to differentiate between Four-Star and Five-Star hotels as far as bars were concerned. legal experts say that the Government’s decision to permit bars at Five-Star hotels is the root cause of the frequent court orders favouring Four-Star hotels.
“This is a matter of legal logic. At this rate, all the bars will have to be given licences if they upgrade to Four-Star standards,” said a senior lawyer of the High Court. “It is in this context that criticisms are coming up to the effect that the Government was not being fully serious about its own liquor policy,” he said.