Telangana govt halts bar licence approvals post SC order on liquor ban

Hyderabad: The TS government has stopped giving approvals to new bars in the state following the recent Supreme Court directions banning liquor outlets along the highways.

The TS government had invited applications for setting up 145 new bars, of which 88 were to be within GHMC limits. The government received nearly 310 applications. The state already has over 800 bars.

In the scrutiny, it was found that almost all the applications received were close to highways. The government had issued notification on November 9 and the last date to submit applications was December 10.

The government had planned to issue licences by this December-end to enable these new bars to start functioning from the New Year. However, SC’s order last week directing all state governments not to allow bars near highways forced the officials to stop the approval process.

Sources in the excise department said, “We cannot go ahead with approvals at this stage since the SC issued specific instructions not to allow bars near highways. We have sought legal opinion on how to go forward on this issue. Till clarity comes from the law department, no fresh approvals will be given.”

The government is also clueless over how to relocate the existing bars and wine shops located near highways as per SC orders. This is because the licences issued to wine shops and bars two years ago are valid till August 2017 and October 2017, respectively.

Owners of bars and wine shops say that the government must compensate them in case of relocation as they would suffer losses and not recover their licence fee.