KOCHI: Congress MLA T N Prathapan on Wednesday filed an appeal before the Kerala High Court against the single bench order directing to grant licence to bar hotels having four star and heritage category classification.
Prathapan submitted that the court cannot interfere with the state’s policies. The state with a motive to bring down liquor consumption has decided to close down the bars. As early as in 1995 the then Chief Minister K Karunakaran had decided to close down arrack shops. Later in 1996, the A K Antony-led government closed down the arrack shops in the state. Later the UDF government decided not to grant new licence to two star and three star hotels as part of regulating liquor consumption.
He added that the findings of the court that the state’s decision to close down four star bars is arbitrary is unacceptable.