Kerala will abide by High Court order, will not reopen bars: Excise Minister

Excise Minister clarified that the reopened bars along the highways were closed He also said that the government will abide by High Court order Advocate generaGeneralirected that the bars along highways can be reopened

State Excise Minister T P Ramakrishnan said the government has shut down all bars that were reopened and does not intend to get into a confrontation with High Court in the issue. He also said that the government will abide by High Court order. 

The Court had come down heavily on the government stating that the authorities misconstructed court judgement to open bars along highways. 

Responding to the court order, Ramakrishnan said the liquor vends on Kannur-Kuttipuram national highways that were opened have been closed following a directive from the High Court. 

The state government would not try to circumvent the Supreme Court order banning liquor shops within 500 metres of National and State highways, he said.

The state government had earlier permitted reopening of 13 liquor shops in the districts of Kannur, Kozhikode and Malappuram. Permission was also given to five toddy shops in Kozhikode and four in Kannur.

In addition, permission was given to reopen one KSBC outlet in Kozhikode and two in Kannur.

The minister said orders have been issued to close all these outlets. The Kerala High Court had yesterday directed the state government to ensure that none of the liquor bars opened on the basis of its last week order on pleas of bar owners, functioned till the disposal of a review plea related to the matter.

Meanwhile, Asianet News reported that it was the Advocate GGeneralwho interpreted High Court order and directed that the bars along highways can be reopened. However, it was evident that the bar owners had misrepresented facts before the bench. Another folly was lack of coordination between Excise and Public Works Departments. 

(With inputs from PTI)