A number of bars, operating with due licence from the government and not attached to any hotel, have sprung up in different parts of the city and its suburbs over the past couple of years.
For a long time, only hotels with a specified number of rooms could apply for licence and then run permit rooms under FL (Foreign Liquor) permits. Licences are issued under various categories and most permit rooms and bars attached to star and non-star hotels possess FL-3 licences.
On the other hand, FL2 licences pertain to ‘possession of liquor by non-proprietary club for supply to members’ and it is not necessary for applicants to have a multi-storeyed building along with guest rooms. There are 24 such places in the city and many more in the neighbouring Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts, most of them concentrated in the city’s immediate suburbs such as Medavakkam, Keelkattalai and Pallikaranai, officials said.
A senior officer at the Commissionerate of Prohibition and Excise told The Hindu that bars with FL-2 licences have to pay the government Rs. 10 lakh a year as renewal fee within Corporation limits and Rs. 6 lakh, in the suburbs. At present, about a dozen applications for opening similar FL-2 outlets from across the State were pending.
Meanwhile, the first premium outlet of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) that opened at Alsa Mall shopping complex in Egmore last month is facing objections from the mall’s association and shop owners.
The Tasmac vending unit was recently inaugurated at a shop on the basement of the mall, which hosts about 30 shops and close to 50 offices. Khaleeli Centre Association of Alsa Mall recently strongly condemned the inauguration of the premium outlet on the grounds that it would inconvenience the large number of women customers. “We had no prior intimation about the Tasmac outlet being opened as the owner of the shop did not inform the association,” said Raj Kirpalani, committee member of the Association.
The association has approached the court seeking removal of the outlet from the mall, he added.
