In a sharp criticism of the state’s liquor policy, the Kerala high court has rejected the government’s decision to exclude three star hotels from the category of hotels entitled to bar licence.
The government had done so by amending the foreign liquor rules under the Kerala Abkari Act. The court quashed the amendment.
The court observed that the government was monopolising liquor sales, and noted that the state's 30 percent annual revenue was from liquor sale.
The court also quashed the ban on granting bar licences within a distance of three km of existing bar hotels in gram panchayaths and one km in corporation limits.Terming the distance regulations of the state as stagnant, the court observed that this was completely destructive of the state’s tourism sector interests.
A division bench comprising Justices C.N. Ramachandran Nair and K. Vinod Chandran passed the order while considering a batch of petitions challenging a single bench order which upheld the state government's decision to amend the act.
The court also directed the state to consider granting bar licences to all eligible hotels with three star facilities. “By delaying licence for three star hotels which are not set up to cater to the needs of the local people, the state cannot achieve any reduction in consumption of liquor,” the court noted.
Consumption cannot be reduced by delaying liquor availability in star hotels where customers are not local people, it held. The court also observed that issuing bar licences to three star hotels was aimed at promoting tourism in the state and earning foreign exchange.
Kerala Beverages Corporation is running 400 retail shops and 708 hotels and restaurants with bar licences. The revenue generated by the state was also increasing steadily, the court noted.