A day after the Supreme Court clarified that pubs and bars within city or town limits will be exempt from the liquor ban around highways, the Excise Department issued a circular on Thursday announcing that pubs within 500 metres of highways meeting this criteria can apply for licences.
However, with the procedure for renewal of licence being time-consuming, the affected areas will continue to remain dry this weekend.
On Thursday, the Excise Department quoted a clarification of the order, passed by the Supreme Court first on December 2016, and said that all liquor vending outlets within 500m of highways in city and town corporations and municipalities and town panchayats can apply for renewal of licence. “We learnt about the order on Wednesday night and we have responded in lightning speed. Apart from outlets in gram panchayat limits, which may number barely 500 or so, the remaining can resume operations,” said Rajendra Prasad, Additional Commissioner of Excise (Indian-Made Liquor).
Since July 1, over 2,900 outlets across the State had been closed to comply with the Supreme Court order, including many within city limits as major roads such as Old Madras Road, M.G. Road are listed as ‘National Highway’ in the records. The closure had resulted in losses while some incurred huge investments in shifting locations.
‘Miracle’
“We were waiting for a miracle after the enforcement of the SC order. The miracle happened on Wednesday. We are happy,” said Ashish Kothare, head of the Bengaluru Chapter of the National Restaurants Association of India.
Many pubs had turned into coffee shops, but were incurring losses, while a majority had no choice but to down their shutters. “If this clarification had come earlier, it would have been helpful. Many owners have suffered major losses, which will not be easy to recoup. Even now, we hope the licences are renewed quickly. It may take up to a week if officials are diligent,” said G. Honnagiri Gowda, president, Karnataka Wine Merchants’ Association.
Mr. Prasad said applications will be cleared as soon as possible, with many expected to be cleared as early as Saturday if ‘the vendor meets all the conditions laid out in the licence’. “Even in places where the number of applications is high, it may take just a couple of days,” he said.
The ones who chose to shift
Many of the 2,900 establishments that were closed after the ban had already started the process of shifting. According to the Excise Department, 834 establishments had chosen to shift, including 76 bars and pubs in Bengaluru.
For the popular Pecos group, which had to close three of their four outlets on M.G. Road and Indiranagar, the clarification has come a tad too late. Collin R. Timms, chairman and managing director, Pecos, said while their ‘original’ pub off Brigade Road will reopen, another in the Central Business District will be shifted to Banaswadi while their pub at Indiranagar will continue the process of shifting down 100 feet road, away from the ‘highway’.
“It is a positive order. It feels like a storm has passed. But, we had already started the process of shifting as we felt the issue will remain. We incurred a huge investment, which we cannot reverse,” he said.