The new liquor policy has empowered the State government to grant bar licences to any hotel with three, four or five-star rating, even upcoming ones.
Senior Excise Department officials described the policy as “non-restrictive.” They portrayed it as a potential game changer that could revitalise the hotel and tourism industry, generate employment, replenish State coffers, nip bootlegging, and put mushrooming illicit liquor drinking saloons out of business.
The 732 bar hotels which were stripped of their bar licences by the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government now stand an improved chance of having their liquor permits restored if they achieved three-star classification or above.
The new policy is expected to pave the way for the immediate reopening of at least 132 bar hotels in the State on July 2. Fresh applications for bars will be entertained and processed fast. The government is of the view that selective grant of bar licences will lead to vexatious, expensive litigations and also spawn allegations of corruption. The liquor policy allows bar licences to be shifted to new premises.
However, the Supreme Court’s ban on retail of liquor on any premise within a 500 m radius of National and State Highways has hampered the business prospects of hundreds of hotels qualified to retail liquor.
Officials said the government might seek legal opinion on an Indian Road Congress (IRC) notification which purportedly states that National and State Highways automatically become arterial, sub-arterial or Collector’s (district) roads when they enter or pass through urban localities.
The hotel industry might get a further reprieve if the government deems that the 1983 IRC norm holds water.
Importantly, the Excise Department has communicated to the Kerala government that the Karnataka government (Congress led) had recently reckoned the IRC notification to be legally valid.
Consequently, the Karnataka government had on Thursday issued an order that re-classified many State and National Highways passing through the State’s urban areas as arterial and sub-arterial roads. The State has sought a copy of the order.
