‘State has no powers to restrict liquor trade’

‘It cannot discriminate among a section of licensees’

September 18, 2014 02:57 am | Updated 02:57 am IST - KOCHI:

Bar hoteliers told the Kerala High Court on Wednesday that the Abkari Act did not empower the State government to impose total prohibition or restriction on the liquor trade.

In their reply to the affidavit filed by the government, the bar hoteliers said the government was not competent to formulate a policy prohibiting partial or complete vending of liquor in hotels.

The bar hoteliers said the recent decision of the Union Ministry of Tourism had made it clear that bar licence was not mandatory for hotels in the five star and above category unless the local law prohibited the same.

Therefore, the government contention that five-star hotels had been allowed to have bar licence with a view to promoting the tourism sector was unsustainable.

Besides, the majority of the tourists visiting the State could not afford the luxury of five star and five-star deluxe hotels. They contended that if the State was bona fide committed to its policy of bringing down the availability of liquor, it should first close down 60 per cent of the retail outlets owned by government-controlled corporations. It was pointed out that since the State was engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of liquor directly and through its corporation, it could not discriminate among a section of licensees relying on Article 47 of the Constitution. The petitions of the bar hoteliers will come up before Justice K. Surendra Mohan on September 18.

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