Upholding the controversial ‘Liquor-Free Kerala’ policy restricting the serving of liquor to five-star hotels in the State, the Supreme Court has ruled that the State governments be given a free hand to curtail or ban public consumption of alcohol to protect public health and nutrition.
Important observations made by the court:
The consumption of tobacco as well as liquor is now undeniably deleterious to the health of humankind. Vulnerable persons, either because of age or proclivity towards intoxication or as a feature of peer pressure, more often than not succumb to this temptation.
Banning public consumption of alcohol, therefore, in Court’s considered opinion, cannot but be seen as a positive step towards bringing down the consumption of alcohol, or aspreparatory to prohibition.
Why, according to the apex court, exemption of five-star hotels did not violate Article 14?
According to the court, there was a “reasonable nexus” between the policy exempting five-star hotels and the State’s objective to rescue public health.
Five-star hotels account for just .08% of alcohol consumption in the State and the prices/tariff of alcohol in five-star hotels is usually prohibitively high, which acts as a deterrent to individuals going in for binge or even casual drinking.
Also, the patrons of five-star hotels are of a mature age and do not visit these hotels with the sole purpose of consuming alcohol.
The court notes that the classification of hotels was not the State government’s doing but that of the Union Ministry of Tourism as per the criteria established for hospitality trade.
The judgment sets a nationwide judicial precedent for States such as Bihar, where liquor sales were recently banned by the Nitish Kumar government, and for the Union government to ban or restrict liquor sale, citing public health.
Kerala’s liquor policy:
The new liquor policy was envisaged to shut down bars attached to hotels below the five-star category as part of the new government’s plans to reduce availability of liquor. And according to the policy 10% of the retail liquor stores in the state would be closed every year till there is none left by 2023. This policy had led to the closure of over 400 bars and restricted liquor availability to nearly 20 five-star hotels.
sources: the hindu.
Important observations made by the court:
The consumption of tobacco as well as liquor is now undeniably deleterious to the health of humankind. Vulnerable persons, either because of age or proclivity towards intoxication or as a feature of peer pressure, more often than not succumb to this temptation.
Banning public consumption of alcohol, therefore, in Court’s considered opinion, cannot but be seen as a positive step towards bringing down the consumption of alcohol, or aspreparatory to prohibition.
Why, according to the apex court, exemption of five-star hotels did not violate Article 14?
According to the court, there was a “reasonable nexus” between the policy exempting five-star hotels and the State’s objective to rescue public health.
Five-star hotels account for just .08% of alcohol consumption in the State and the prices/tariff of alcohol in five-star hotels is usually prohibitively high, which acts as a deterrent to individuals going in for binge or even casual drinking.
Also, the patrons of five-star hotels are of a mature age and do not visit these hotels with the sole purpose of consuming alcohol.
The court notes that the classification of hotels was not the State government’s doing but that of the Union Ministry of Tourism as per the criteria established for hospitality trade.
The judgment sets a nationwide judicial precedent for States such as Bihar, where liquor sales were recently banned by the Nitish Kumar government, and for the Union government to ban or restrict liquor sale, citing public health.
Kerala’s liquor policy:
The new liquor policy was envisaged to shut down bars attached to hotels below the five-star category as part of the new government’s plans to reduce availability of liquor. And according to the policy 10% of the retail liquor stores in the state would be closed every year till there is none left by 2023. This policy had led to the closure of over 400 bars and restricted liquor availability to nearly 20 five-star hotels.
sources: the hindu.
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