Procedures to grant bar licences likely to change, says Keralam Excise Minister

Hinting at a relook at the process of granting bar licences, Keralam Excise Minister M. Liju said on Monday that the government will investigate whether bar licences were granted in haste by some officials using loopholes in the system. Speaking to the media, he said that the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had in 2017 issued an order which enabled Deputy Commissioners to approve applications for upgrading beer and wine parlours to bars, provided the establishments attain star classification.

“During the LDF’s 10-year tenure, as many as 478 beer and wine parlours got upgraded as bars with FL3 licence. The UDF government has a clear policy based on which a licence cannot be granted to a hotel merely based on its star classification, as a social impact study also has to be carried out. We have informed the High Court about this. After the UDF government came to power, 29 new applications for bar licences were received. A decision on these will be taken only after the new liquor policy comes into effect by the end of November,” he said.

The Excise department had recently suspended three officers for granting bar licences to hotels in Ernakulam and Kottayam district in violation of the government’s stand that no licences would be granted until a new liquor policy was formulated. “The loophole in the law enabled the officials to issue licences without informing the government. This is why action had to be taken against them. The previous government created this situation. We have a responsibility to correct this. We will take away this power given to Deputy Commissioners,” he said.