The Supreme Court (SC) has restrained Kerala from banning liquor bars in non-5-Star hotels from Wednesday midnight until it hears a petition filed by hotel owners on Thursday. The court said the order was discriminatory since the Government had allowed liquor to flow freely in the State’s 5-Star hotels, toddy shops and Government-run wine shops.
The Bench of Justices AR Dave and UU lalit posted the matter for hearing on Thursday. In the meantime, the State was restrained from taking any coercive action against affected hotels till the matter was heard.
Not wanting to be seen as an interested party, Justice Dave said: “I am a teetotaler. But we do not see any logic as to how they have been distinguished.”
The reference was to the non-5-Star hotel bar owners who were issued an order on August 27 to close down their bars. The owners claimed to have valid bar licences expiring on March 31, 2015. The bar owners demanded urgent relief from the SC as the Kerala High Court refused to stay the Government’s order while admitting their challenge against the State’s policy.
Senior advocate CA Sundaram, who represented a hotel association, cried foul over such a distinction made by the State to segregate 5-Star hotel owners from 3-Star and 4-Star hotel owners.“I could understand if the purpose was to ensure curb on liquor flow, but there is no prohibition on 5-Star hotels. Government liquor shops and toddy shops are functioning and only we are stopped,” Sundaram said.
The State, appearing on caveat, argued through senior advocate Kapil Sibal that a one-man commission set up by the State examined the policy of allotting bar licences, following which a policy decision was taken. Even the earlier decision to grant licences till March 2015 was on a condition that it could be cancelled anytime by the State.
Senior lawyers Fali Nariman, Rajeev Dhavan and Ram Jethmalani, who represented different groups of hotel owners, pointed out that the policy was discriminatory and violated the fundamental right of equality under Article 14 as held by previous decisions of the SC. Moreover, there was a human problem too involved in this case.
Pointing out that there were lakhs of people employed at these bars, Sundaram said most of the hotels even had bookings for December and January, considered the peak season for tourism.Posting the case for Thursday, the Bench told Sibal: “We will keep it for Thursday. Ask your authorities to take no action till tomorrow.”