The legal rebuff was administered by a bench of Justice AR Dave and UU Lalit which also asked the Kerala High Court to decide, if possible by September 30, on the bunch of petitions filed by bar owners challenging the Government’s liquor policy.

The apex court came down heavily on the unseemly haste with which the State Government was going about implementing the liquor policy. “For years, they(bars) have been doing this business legally; can you ban it overnight?”, the bench asked, adding, “A person with a fat purse could go to a five-star bar and have a drink while another person has no such option. How is it a fair policy”. If the government was really keen on total prohibition, the SC said, it should stop it at one go like the Gujarat Government did.

Legal experts say the UDF Government invited the SC verdict through the unseemly haste with which it formulated the liquor policy and went about implementing it. The SC order has proved, if proof were needed, that the liquor policy bristled with contradictions.

The apex court’s ruling has further exposed the fault lines within the UDF. Allies like the Kerala Congress (Mani), Kerala Congress (B) and the Kerala Congress (J) have openly come out against the new excise policy. Their main grouse is that the allies were not consulted at all before finalising the policy. The Chief Minister virtually imposed his decision on the UDF partners in his eagerness to outsmart his rival in the Congress, KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran, whose tough stance against the reopening of 418 closed bars was not to the liking of the Chief Minister and the Excise Minister, K. Babu, a loyalist of the CM.

That the government is not sincere on the new excise policy is clear from the fact that it is divided on the question of giving beer parlour licences to the bars which would be closed down when the new liquor policy becomes effective. The KC(M) wants the bars to be given beer parlour licences while the Congress is opposed to it. The Chief Minister and the KPCC chief are also at odds on the issue. While the KPCC president says the UDF has already taken a decision against giving beer parlour licences, the CM has denied it.

That the verdict has left the UDF leaders red-faced goes without saying. Not only that. Such ill-thought-out decisions on highly sensitive matters without even consultation in the UDF coordination committee bodes ill for the cohesion and stability of the UDF.

The order has come as a much-needed reprieve for the bar owners who had moved the SC on the ground that the matter needed urgent hearing in view of the ban coming into effect from September 12. The ban, the bar owners, had claimed, would affect their right to livelihood apart from violating their fundamental right. The government could, if it deems fit, choose not to renew their licences when they expire. But how can it revoke the licences halfway through. That was their question, and the SC has obviously found it convincing. Hence the stay on the ban.

Finance Minister K. M. Mani is also a much-relieved man. The prospect of revenue loss accruing from the ban would have proved the last straw for the cash-strapped state government. Now that the stay has been granted, the cash flow from the bars would continue for some more time.

The Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) is, understandably, happy over the turn of events. Opposition leader, V. S. Achuthanandan dubbed the verdict as a slap on the government’s face. If the government was really serious about prohibition, it should have closed down, along with all bars, the outlets of the state-owned Beverages Corporation, too, VS said.

The scene will now shift to the High Court, which will start hearing in the case soon. A protracted legal battle is in the offing with both the Government and the bar owners sharpening their legal weapons. (IPA Service)