KOCHI: Though Excise laws in most of the states, including Kerala, prohibit women from bartending, several courts have ruled in women’s favour. In fact, Kerala High Court in 2015 was critical of the state government for introducing an amendment to Foreign Liquor Rules prohibiting women at bars, stating it as ‘classic case of begging the question’.
The Kerala government had introduced an amendment to Foreign Liquor Rules- Rule 27 A and condition no 9 A in Form FL-3 prohibiting women from working at bars in 2013. In December 2013, Dhanyamol C J of Kattappana and Soniya Das of Cheriyathura working at an FL-3 bar in Thiruvananthapuram approached Kerala High Court against the new Foreign Liquor Rule and obtained a favourable ruling. Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu in a 12-page verdict was critical of the amendment.
“Government receiving complaints about hotel establishments employing women in any capacity, especially for serving liquor, is not, by any reckoning, of much consequence. The government, however, presupposes that employing women to serve liquor in licensed premises is illegal. Since this presumed illegality needs some statutory support, the government has brought about the impugned government order. Curious as it may sound, first, the government brands something as illegal, without any statutory base, though; and subsequently brings about justification by amending the Rules. The approach of the government is a classic case of begging the question,” stated the order.
The court maintained that it needed not much cogitation to hold that amendments introduced against women working in bars fall foul of the Constitutional scheme of gender equality as has been spelt out in the Articles of the Constitution of India. “Three women students who completed hotel management studies and wanted to work in a bar had filed a similar petition in Delhi High Court. They were not permitted as Punjab Excise Act prohibited it. In the order favouring the petitioners, the court was critical about the law. There are around 12 states in the country that completely ban women from working in bars. In states like Maharashtra, New Delhi and West Bengal, special permission has to be taken for allowing women to work in bars,” an Excise official said.