Comments
Liquor bars that the Kerala Government had earlier ordered to be closed by September 12 last, received yet another lease of life with the Kerala High Court allowing them to remain open until January 20.
The High Court, which had earlier allowed the bars to function till December 12, on Wednesday permitted them to stay open till January 20. This will benefit around 300 bars currently functioning after 418 ‘substandard’ ones had been shut down.
The government had told the court that it had asked its tourism and labour department secretaries to study the impact to the liquor ban. The court wanted the reports to be ready within four weeks. Earlier this week, the court had asked the government to consider the application for licence of four 4-star bars.
The State government’s new liquor policy had aimed to get all liquor bars, except those attached to five-star and heritage hotels, closed and also to bring in total prohibition in phases over the next 10 years. However, the bar owners, fighting a multipronged legal battle, have so far staved off the closure threat.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.