The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the Kerala government’s liquor policy restricting service and consumption of liquor to bars in five star hotels only.
An apex court bench comprising Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh in their judgement pronounced on Tuesday said that petitions challenging the Kerala liquor policy are dismissed and the Kerala High Court judgement sustaining the liquor policy is upheld.
The liquor policy, upheld by the apex court, allows service of liquor at bars in five star hotels only. Under the policy, the sale and consumption of liquor at the bars in hotels below five star is prohibited.
The batch of petitions by the Kerala Bar Hotel Association and others had contended that the new policy under challenge that permitted only the five star hotels to sell and serve liquor bars in their hotels was discriminatory to other hotels.
The liquor policy restricting the sale and consumption of liquor at a bar benefitted 24 five-star hotels in the state and it was upheld by the Kerala High Court on 31 March.
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