Supreme Court upholds Kerala govt's policy restricting bar licences only to five-star hotels
In a big jolt to bar owners in Kerala, the Supreme Court on Tuesday Dec 29,2015 upheld the Kerala Government's policy to close down all bars and allow liquor to be served only in five star hotels.The SC passed the order on the petitions by Kerala bar owners, who had challenged the liquor policy claiming it to be discriminatory.
In a historic judgment confirming the State’s right to impose even an
“unreasonable” ban on sale of liquor if the move benefits public health,
the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the liquir policy of Kerala
government restricting sale of alcohol to only five star bars.
A bench of Justices Vikramjit Sen and Shiva Kirti Singh upheld the
State's argument that even “unreasonable restrictions” by the State
cannot be challenged by liquor traders.
The Kerala govt. had submitted that liquor traders cannot protest the
“unreasonableness” of the ban on all category of bars except those in
five star hotels as they have no right to protection to practise their
trade under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution.
The court has agreed with the State’s argument that liquor traders have
no business to intervene in the policy prescriptions of the State
government.
“Policy prescriptions are attempts by the State... an experimentation...
which will be met with partial success or failure or complete failure
or success. A policy is based on the available situation. We cannot
foresee all possible situations. But it is our right to endeavour for a
liquor-free Kerala,” senior advocate Kapil Sibal had argued for the
State.
Kerala government's new liquor policy had resulted in the shut down of over 300 bars in the state
In August 2014,the Kerala government has issued an order giving effect
to the new liquor policy. Accordingly, the bar licence issued to all
hotels excluding those with five-star rating will be cancelled. Outlets
of the Kerala State Beverages Corporation and Consumerfed will be closed
down at the rate of 10 per cent every year.
A cess
of five per cent will be levied on liquor to fund a special scheme,
named Punarjani 2030, to rehabilitate bar employees and alcohol addicts.
On October 30, 2014, the Kerala High Court had upheld the the state government's decision to close down more than 700 bars, but had exempted heritage and five-star hotels.
The Justice M. Ramachandran Commission, appointed by
the United Democratic Front (UDF) government to look into the Kerala
Abkari policy, has recommended introduction of liquor with low alcohol
content and a change in the timing of bar hotels to bring down the
consumption of liquor.
In a report submitted to the
government, the commission said that after the lifting of prohibition in
1967, there had been a steady increase in the number of consumers,
especially among the young, and the statistics indicated that the graph
of consumption was steadily rising. The social habits of new generations
and the increase in the income among the working class had
substantially made contributions to the situation.
As far the FL3 bar licences were concerned, the youth had “monopoly at the FL3 licence.”
A
number of persons apparently in the lower rungs of society were seen
waiting for opening of bars in the morning. FL3 pertains to licence for
sale of Foreign Liquor in Bar Hotels for consumption within the
premises
Bars only at 27 five-star hotels
With the Supreme Court endorsing the new liquor policy
of the Kerala government, bars will be allowed to operate only at 27
five-star hotel properties in the State.
Apart from this, 33 club properties will be licensed to serve liquor while 806 beer and wine parlours will be allowed to operate in the State.
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