THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government will make use of bar hotel classification process and classify all 36 clubs in state to ensure high standards and hygiene. The idea is being processed with the taxes department on the basis of a proposal put forward by excise commissioner
Rishi Raj Singh after the department received multiple complaints about the declining hygiene in clubs having liquor licences.
The clubs have been given bar licences as per the rule 13 (4 A) of the foreign liquor rules, 1953, on payment of Rs 15 lakh annually, provided that they satisfy 11 conditions.
The clubs that should be registered as a society, should have been functioning for at least 10 years, and should have a minimum of 100 members. The criteria with regards to the physical
infrastructure of the clubs also say that the land and buildings should be registered in the name of the society and there should be at least five rooms that can be let out on rent. The rules also insist that there should be facilities for at least two outdoor games and indoor games.
According to taxes department sources, the conditions laid out in the rules can be satisfied even if they are poorly maintained.
In fact, some of the facilities in the clubs have been poorly maintained even to the extent that they could be compared to the 418 unhygienic hotels that were denied bar licence on the insistence of the Supreme Court.
“Most of the clubs collect huge sum as membership fee and they also generate revenue through various other means. It is unjustifiable that when we classify the hotels for their hygiene, the clubs have been allowed to run whichever way they want to. The handicap with the excise department officials has been that these clubs satisfy the rules that have been stipulated, as there no set hygiene standards in place for them. It is precisely what the government intends to focus on once the classification is in place,” a top official said.
