Kerala excise dept to serve closure notices on bars

Confusion over issue of notices to bars in Kerala

The state excise department is moving cautiously on the new Abkari (excise) Policy announced recently. The department has decided to issue closure notices to the bars. In this regard, a high-level meeting is scheduled on Tuesday wherein it is likely to entrust the deputy excise commissioners to serve the notices shortly in the state with highest per capita alcohol consumption.

Excise commissioner Anil Xavier said the department would issue notices after getting legal advice in order to make sure there was no loopholes in the process. There is already a strong criticism against the government’s decision with the Kerala Bar Hotels Association all set to challenge the move.

A high-power committee meeting of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) had last Thursday decided to close all the operating 312 bars, from April 1, 2015. The committee also decided not to open the 418 bars closed  three months ago. Besides, all the star category hotels, except 5-star, will not be allowed to serve Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL).

It is alleged the decision to close all the bars in the state was taken without  studying its impact on the economy and the finances of the state. The state is facing a serious financial crunch and the government has already raised Rs 4,500 crore from the market mainly to disburse pension and salary.

Earlier, the government had planned to close the bars from Tuesday onwards, without serving notices. However, after legal experts stated this would benefit the bar hotel owners in the court, the department decided to serve notices before acting.

A part of the licence fee collected from the bar hotels (roughly Rs 40 crore) will be returned and the Kerala State Beverages Corporation will take the stock of liquor from the bar hotels. The government will inform the High Court about the new Abkari Policy on August 26.

Chief minister Oommen Chandy clarified that bars operating in clubs would also come under the purview of the new policy. A decision in this regard will be taken at the next Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Discount offer

Meanwhile, hectic discount sale is going on in at most of the ‘affected’ bars across the state. Bottles are sold at 20-50 per cent lower prices in order to clear the stock.