HC upholds Kerala’s liquor policy, bar licences only to 5-star hotels
1 April 2015 5:46 AM IST
Setting aside a single judge order permitting bars in four-star and heritage hotels, the Kerala high court on Tuesday upheld the state government’s liquor policy for 2014-15 confining bar licences only to five star hotels.
A division bench, comprising justices KT Sankaran and Babu Mathew P. Joseph, ratified the government’s liquor policy framed last year and subsequent amendments granting licences to beer and wine parlours.
The bench said there was nothing to offend fundamental rights or to term arbitrary or irrational about the liquor policy. It set aside the ruling of the single judge permitting bars in four-star and heritage hotels. Equating four-star and five star hotels was illegal “as the yardsticks to their classification are different”, it said.
The bench delivered the verdict after hearing appeals by bar owners and state government against the order of the single judge who modified the state’s liquor policy, allowing four-star and heritage hotels also to run liquor bars while upholding its decision to close down bars run by three-star hotels.
The state had banned bars in all hotels below five-star status. The bench rejected plea of bar owners that the closing down of bars will affect the economy of the state and its tourism prospects.
“The government is aware of its economic capacity,” it said. Noting that rights of individuals are not affected by the policy, the court said it can’t dictate the government that the policy was bad. The state was trying to implement various policies year after year to achieve total prohibition stage by stage, it said.
A division bench, comprising justices KT Sankaran and Babu Mathew P. Joseph, ratified the government’s liquor policy framed last year and subsequent amendments granting licences to beer and wine parlours.
The bench said there was nothing to offend fundamental rights or to term arbitrary or irrational about the liquor policy. It set aside the ruling of the single judge permitting bars in four-star and heritage hotels. Equating four-star and five star hotels was illegal “as the yardsticks to their classification are different”, it said.
The bench delivered the verdict after hearing appeals by bar owners and state government against the order of the single judge who modified the state’s liquor policy, allowing four-star and heritage hotels also to run liquor bars while upholding its decision to close down bars run by three-star hotels.
The state had banned bars in all hotels below five-star status. The bench rejected plea of bar owners that the closing down of bars will affect the economy of the state and its tourism prospects.
“The government is aware of its economic capacity,” it said. Noting that rights of individuals are not affected by the policy, the court said it can’t dictate the government that the policy was bad. The state was trying to implement various policies year after year to achieve total prohibition stage by stage, it said.
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