SC clarification may clear the way for reopening of bars

Only Excise Commissioner’s order required to resume business, say officials

The Supreme Court’s clarification that the liquor sale ban does not apply to municipal areas may have come late in the day for liquor outlets in the district, while it may prove a blessing to beer and wine parlours and bars, which remain closed.

The district witnessed the closure of 26 liquor outlets, 22 belonging to the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco), and four to Consumerfed, following the apex court’s nation-wide ban on sale of liquor within 500 metres of State and national highways with effect from April 1 this year. Out of these 15 were either within the municipal or Kochi Corporation limits. Twenty liquor outlets, including 15 in municipal limits, had since been relocated. Out of the six still to open, two were in the municipal limits and one in the corporation limit.

Bevco’s Aluva warehouse accounted for the closure of eight outlets out of its 14 outlets, while Thripunithura and Perumbavoor warehouses had to close down seven each of their 14 and nine outlets respectively.

Aluva warehouse had since relocated its outlets at Edappally, Padivattom, Puthencruz, Vadakkekkara, and Ilanji while the ones at Paravur municipality, Varapuzha and Cherai still remain closed. “Though a building was made available at Paravur, the outlet cannot be opened owing to public protest. The licence of another outlet at Kizhakkambalam, closed down owing to the opposition of the corporate-backed political outfit Twenty20, has been transferred to Padivattom,” sources said.

All the seven outlets initially closed down within the Thripunithura warehouse limits – Vyttila, Ravipuram, Thripunithura, Lissie Junction, Thoppumpady, Karuvelippady and Palluruthy – were within the Corporation limits, and all except the one at Palluruthy had since been relocated. Seven out of the nine liquor outlets, including three in the municipal limits of Perumbavoor, Kothamangalam and Muvattupuzha, had already been relocated while one outlet at Kothamangalam still remains closed. Consumerfed had relocated its outlets at Koothattukulam municipal limits and at Thoppumpady and Vyttila, both within corporation limits. The one at Njarakkal still remains closed owing to lack of space.

The apex court’s clarification on its original order, however, may pave way for the reopening of several of the 92 beer and wine parlours within the municipal and corporation limits in the district though the exact number was not immediately available. Similarly, it may clear the way for at least three out of the five closed bars.

“Except for the relevant orders from the Excise Commissioner, there are no specific formalities for reopening the beer and wine parlours, and bars. They are likely to be cleared promptly for operations once the order is issued,” Excise officials said.