Authorities at the Bangalore Club went into a huddle after their application to renew liquor licence of the 145-year-old club was rejected. The club seems to be staring at a long bureaucratic procedure with the district administration believing that the only way to obtain a licence was to change the registration of the club itself.
G.V. Radhakrishna, president of the club, said a meeting of office-bearers has been called on Sunday to decide on the next course of action, which could involve approaching an appellate authority.
The club on Residency Road saw its liquor licence cancelled on Thursday, and its stock of alcohol was seized on Friday in a raid by the Excise Department.
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Deputy Commissioner (Bengaluru Urban) V. Shankar, who is the licensing authority, said as the club is registered under the Companies Act, a CL-4 (Commercial Excise Licence) could not be given to them. “They had gone to the court seeking time till June-end to renew their licence. However, renewal of CL-4 cannot be done under the current registration… they can be given the licence only if they are registered under the Cooperative Societies Act to obtain a licence,” he said.
However, rules state that a society can be eligible for liquor licence only five years after registration, said a senior excise officer.
The club had petitioned the High Court when the licence was suspended in November 2014, and the officer said a final judgment on this was awaited.
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Stand-off with officer
The rejection of the licence can be traced back to November 5, 2014 when senior police officer R.P. Sharma took objection to club security scrutinising his car and demanding identification. The stand-off ended with Mr. Sharma being suspended by the club. However, the officer alleged that the management was selling alcohol across multiple counters, when their licence allowed selling of alcohol only at a single counter.
Based on this complaint, officials of the excise department raided the premises and later issued show-cause notice in November. After the High Court gave them time till June-end, the renewal application was rejected.