The Office of the Excise Minister K. Babu has denied any move to sanction new bar licences this year.
An official release from the Office said that the reports about plans to sanction 100 new bars were baseless and the Department had no knowledge of such a proposal.
The release said that the Excise Department or its officials were not associated with granting of star status to hotels. The classification was being given by a Central agency based on clear norms. If any irregularity had taken place in that respect, the State Department or government were not responsible.
It said that the previous government had announced the liquor policy for 2011-12 and had renewed bar licences and given new bar licences. The present government sanctioned 24 bar licences of which 17 were based on orders of the High Court. All the bars were sanctioned according to norms.
Besides, the government had taken specific measures considering the tendency to obtain bar licences in the name of tourism development after getting three star classifications for hotels. Hence, the government had announced that new bars would be allowed only in hotels with four star or higher status from next financial year. From 2013-14 onwards, only five star hotels would be given new licences. Besides, minimum distance had been specified between bars.
Measures had also been taken to check consumption by increasing the age limit for using liquor to 21 years and limiting the quantity of liquor that can be stocked by individuals to 15 litres.
