- LATEST
- WEBSTORY
- TRENDING
INDIA
Supreme Court's order brings relief to 700 bar owners in Kerala
Updated : Sep 12, 2014, 07:36 AM IST
)
TRENDING NOW
)
Step inside Rekha's Rs 100 crore house Basera, sea-facing bungalow sandwiched between Salman Khan's Galaxy, Shah Rukh Khan's Mannat: See pics
)
Bad news for millions of Indian mobile phone users as Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Mittal plan to...
)
Meet man who cracked AIIMS at 16, became IAS at 22, quit civil services to build Rs 28520 crore ed-tech empire, now he is...
)
Meet Soumya Mishra, Sumegha Mishra, sisters who cracked UPSC exam in 1st attempt, their ranks are..., they are from...
)
BIG move by Sunil Mittal as Airtel to acquire Gautam Adani's company's entire...
)
Good news! 48 students of this IIT college get Rs 60 lakh salary package, not IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay
)
Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani's favourite food joint in Mumbai was opened 62 years ago, now has monthly turnover of Rs..., it was founded by..
)
Meet Noel Tata's daughter-in-law who is leading Toyota Kirloskar Group, Ratan Tata was her..., her name is...
)
Meet woman who cracked UPSC exam twice, became IPS at 22, IAS at 23, she is from..., secured AIR...
)
Sara Tendulkar opens up on her marriage plans, here's what she says in this viral reel
)
Meet student who secured AIR 99 in JEE Advanced, still did not join IIT, dropped out of counselling for..., he is now..
)
Meet actor who became star at 15, gave blockbusters with Karisma, challenged Govinda, but one accident ruined his life; he is now...
)
Step inside Dev Anand's iconic bungalow, first celeb home in Juhu that will be demolished for 22-floor tower, has been sold for Rs...
)
Meet actor who has worked with Akshay Kumar, Rishi Kapoor, he was part of biggest films, later went bankrupt, became watchman of a high-rise, he is...
)
Big blow to MS Dhoni in middle of IPL 2025 as CSK skipper set to face huge loss of money due to....
Giving relief to more than 700 bar owners to run their bars and clubs, the Supreme Court on Thursday restrained Kerala government from implementing its liquor policy till September 30.
As per the new policy bar licenses are limited to five star hotels only, as a part of a move to implement total prohibition in the state in next 10 years.
Under the policy, the UDF government had last month decided to shut down the bars attached to hotels below five-star categories. It had directed the bar owners to shut their shops starting from September 12.
The bench of justices Anil R Dave and UU Lalit rejected the state's argument that it is a social problem and government wanted to bar young people from going to bars and clubs to consume liquor.
"If you want to stop liqour consumption in the state, stop completely and why only five star hotels will be allowed to serve liqour and not other hotels and clubs," the court said and asked the Kerala High Court to dispose of the plea filed by the restaurant, bar and club owners.
Appearing for the state former Law Minister Kapil Sibbal submitted that in next ten years there will be a complete ban on liquor and argued that young children will not be able to afford to go to five star hotels and it is not possible for them to drink at home.
He said the license fee deposited by the hotels will be returned to the them and sought the court not to intervene saying it "a policy matter."
The bench observed "how can you say that only rich people are allowed to drink in five star hotels and people having less money are not supposed to take liquors."
Appearing for the hotels, senior advocates Ram Jethmalani, A C Sundaram, Rajiv Dhavan, argued separately on the point that the hotel owners have been running the bars for past several years and the government had granted them the existing license which will expire in March next year.
The government cannot create a ground by bringing policy to cancel them much before the expiry date unless they breached the license conditions, Jethmalani argued.
