Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala High Court had denied to relief on the decision of state government over ban on liquor which cause 670 bars to shut down on Thursday.
Court upheld the state government’s ban on bars serving liquor in the state and has said that only bars in four and five star hotels would still be permitted to function.
The bar owners will now approach the Supreme Court challenging the ban.
Earlier, bar owners in Kerala had approached the court challenging the decision of state government to close over 700 bar hotels in the state, maintaining it was discriminatory.
In their affidavit filed in the court, the bar owners had said that substantial revenue of the government was augmented from the taxes, duties, and rentals collected from their businesses.
They claimed that when the state was running on overdraft, the state government had not examined the impact of prohibiting vending of liquor in hotels other than those classified as five star hotels.
Meanwhile state government had informed the High Court that it was its ‘avowed’ policy to reduce liquor consumption stage by stage and to achieve the goal of total prohibition within 10 years.
Bureau Report
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