Kerala Government plea against liquor licence order

The State submitted that the direction to grant licence to four-star bar hotels was illegal and unsustainable. The reasons stated by the single judge for granting FL3 licence to four-star and heritage category hotels was unacceptable.

Special Government Pleader Tom K.Thomas filed the petition for the State. "The Government thought it fit to exclude all hotels except those having five-star classification while granting licence. The policy of the State was formulated after a series of deliberations and discussions," the appeal said.

According to the State, the single judge ought to have found that the State could completely prohibit the trade of potable liquor. It also had the right to restrict the liquor trade in tune with the liquor policy of the State. “Courts are not expected to express their opinion as to whether on a particular point of time or any particular situation any such policy should have been adopted or not,” the State submitted.

The court also failed to consider the verdicts of the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court upholding the State's rights to impose limitations and restrictions on the trade or business in potable liquor as a beverage. Through this order the single judge had diluted the policy of the Government, which was improper and illegal, the State argued.

The observation that hotels with four-star classification were not frequented by the youth, students or the less affluent was wrong. The State also challenged the observations of the single judge that it ignored the recommendations of the one-man commission.

The single judge had upheld the Abkari policy 2014-15, but allowed four-star and heritage category hotels to function. The State also sought an interim stay on the single bench order.