The Supreme Court (Files)
THE UT Administration has given the go-ahead to the UT bar owners asking them to deposit the licence fee so that they could re-open the bars which were affected by the Supreme Court’s initial ban order. The bars are likely to open by Wednesday now. “We have received a communication by the administration. Most of us have prepared our documents and cheque for licence fee. The bars will open by tomorrow,” said Arvinder Pal Singh, president of Chandigarh Hotel and Restaurants Association.
After the SC order, the administration did not find the need to denotify Madhya Marg, Dakshin Marg, Himalaya Marg as the orders clarified those which were issued on December 15, 2016, that the liquor ban on highways is not applicable to licensed premises within municipal limits of a city.
“The order doesn’t prohibit licensed establishments within municipal areas. This clarification shall govern other municipal areas as well. We have considered it appropriate to issue this clarification to set at rest any ambiguity… The exercise carried out by Chandigarh Administration does not breach the directions issued by this Court. It is neither in violation of the terms of the order nor of the purpose and intendment behind those directions,” the orders by the apex court stated.
Until now, the administration was thinking of denotifying these stretches as major district roads which would then permit hoteliers to allow consumption of liquor at these places. The belt of hotels and restaurants stretching across sectors 26, 35 and 43 is lying deserted because of the ban. There are 88 bars in the city which were affected by the ban before the clarification given by the court. The hotel owners had started obtaining the new liquor stock the moment SC in the resumed hearing of the case had stated that the ban didn’t apply within MC limits.
