The Kerala High Court on Monday severely criticised State Congress president VM Sudheeran for issuing a circular to Congress-ruled local administration bodies in the State asking them not to issue no-objection certificates (NOCs) for bars in their areas.
While considering a petition filed in connection with the application for bar licence of a five-star hotel in Maradu, a municipal area adjacent to Kochi city, a division bench of the court said Sudheeran had acted like an extra-Constitutional authority by issuing the circular to local bodies which were to act in accordance with the Government's policies.
The division bench comprising Justices Antony Dominique and Alexander Thomas said that the PCC chief had no right or authority to issue such circulars to local administration bodies. The bench declared the circular invalid saying that it was illegal and that the local administration bodies need not implement its instructions.
The High Court had been told that the Maradu Municipal Council had refused NOC for bar to the particular five-star hotel as per the instructions contained in Sudheeran's circular. At this point, the court had asked for the circular which was given to it. Sudheeran had issued the circular last year saying that the intention was to reduce consumption of alcohol.
Pointing out that local administration bodies should be functioning in accordance with the policies and guidelines of the Government and not as per circulars issued by leaders of political parties, the division bench asked the Maradu Municipality to issue NOC for bar to the five-star hotel within two weeks.
At the same time, the development is sure to become a huge embarrassment for Sudheeran in the groupism-ridden Congress party. Allegations have already come up to the effect that the issue of Sudheeran's circular was brought up before the High Court as part of a deliberate move connected with the group war in the Congress.
It is alleged that some interested parties had brought the matter up before the court with the intention of getting an order favouring the hotel. It is considered to be a big blow to Sudheeran that his failure to block NOC to a bar through the circular has now happened in the constituency of Congress's Excise Minister K Babu, whose position on the liquor ban move is known to be different from that of the PCC chief.