Supreme Court Judgement on Kerala Liquor Policy

On December 29, the Supreme Court was convinced with the Kerala government’s arguments that ban of selling liquor at all bars except at five star hotels will bring down the liquor consumption in state. The court upheld the state’s law, which allows liquor serving at five star hotels while restricting at other places.

• Kerala government’s argument: Its policy aims to compelling the youth to abstain from drinking by making liquor prohibitively expensive. The exception given to five star hotels was in the interest of tourism.
• Supreme Court observation: Kerala accounts around 14 per cent of liquor consumption in India. Given the extent of liquor consumption in the state, it is in the public interest to introduce such laws which makes liquor consumption expensive. The policy is neither arbitrary nor discriminatory. While giving the judgement, the court also observed that the courts should be wary of interfering in policy issues.

The controversial policy was introduced by the Kerala government on 22 August 2014 by declaring that bar licences would be granted to five-star hotels only. For UPSC Examinations, this judgement should be read with article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.