Wine stores, bars and pubs whose liquor licences will expire by midnight on Friday, following the Supreme Court order prohibiting sale within 500m of highways, will see their unsold stock frozen by the Excise Department officials soon after closing hours.
A senior department official said that they will be taking the inventory of the remaining stocks in the establishments before locking them under the seal of the department within the premises.
“All this will done under the department supervision,” he said.
Another official said: “The establishment will also have to file a closure report (on the stock) that will have sales figures as well as the stock remaining with them. Except in Bengaluru where the establishments are open till 1 a.m., the rest of the State will close early.”
Establishments will also have to surrender the licence unless they has paid relocation fee and are relocating to a premise outside 500m of the national highway within three months, the official explained.
Initially, about 6,000 of 10,000 liquor vending establishments in the State were thought to have been affected by the Supreme Court ruling. However, with the government reclassifying stretches of State highways and bypasses in the municipal limits, about 1,100 establishments were prevented from relocation.
The anticipated declassification of national highways in municipal limits could save another 1,300 establishments, wine merchants say, adding that the rest have to relocate.
Owners wary
Owners of several establishments are adopting a wait-and-watch policy before choosing to apply for shifting their licences based on assurances from the Excise Department and other government sources that denotification would happen within a few days.
“There is a lot of discussion on this topic and the message being sent out is to wait and watch. If there can be a solution to this problem keeping the spirit of the court judgement unharmed, it would be better to wait 10-15 days before deciding,” said the owner of a pub.
