Bhayandar: In a provisional respite for orchestra bar owners in the twin city, the State Government’s home department stayed the order imposed by the revenue wing revoking their entertainment licenses.
The decision is seen as a major setback to the efforts taken by the Thane (rural) police to weed out illegalities and keep control on the crime graph, which according to them had witnessed a significant slump during the period when such establishments had been shut.
While it was on the instance of the police that the licenses were revoked by the tehsildar’s office in September, representatives from the latter were conspicuous by their absence in the hearing scheduled by the home department on Tuesday, facilitating an ex-parte stay on the orders, thus allowing orchestra bars to operate till final judgment.
“ Any type of illegal activity or violation in framed guidelines will continue to remain on our radar. Nothing illegal will be tolerated,” warned SP Mahesh Patil. Overjoyed after getting a reprieve from the apex court on the 500-metre ban, the happiness of orchestra bar owners was short-lived as their entertainment licenses was revoked soon after.
Significantly, a large number of orchestra bars were running sans updated licenses needed to stage live music shows. Warned that strict action would be taken against defaulters, the police had slapped notices on all such establishments in June 2017. Since then the bar owners had been trying to procure renewals. The death knell was sounded after the licenses of 42 bars were revoked on September 2017, prompting the bar owners to file an appeal before the home department.
