Kasargod, Oct 31: The Kerala High Court's latest verdict upholding the state government's new excise policy directing closure of bars in two and three-star hotels has virtually put an end to the sale of liquor through bar hotels in the district.
The verdict has paved way for the closure of all the four remaining bar hotels, two in Kasaragod and one each in Kanhangad and Neeleshwaram, and those consuming liquor will have to rely on the nine Bevco outlets and an outlet of Consumerfed in the district, Excise Department sources here said.
They said there were no four-star bar hotels in the district and the middle class consumers would be reluctant to visit the only five-star bar hotel at Uduma.
The bar outlets facing closure will have to take fresh no-objection certificates from the local bodies concerned before seeking licence from the Excise Commissioner for running beer parlours, the sources said.
Three bar hotels, two in Kanhangad and one in Kasaragod, had downed shutters after the government decided to close all the 418 bars in hotels below the three-star category.
A Bevco outlet at Cheruvathur was closed on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, as part of the closure of 10 per cent of such outlets every year in the State.
In the emerging situation, the Excise Department will now have to be on guard to check smuggling of spurious liquor through the porous routes bordering Karnataka.
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