THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition staged a walkout from the Assembly on Wednesday in protest against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s refusal to concede to the demand for a probe by a legislature committee into the bar bribery case involving Excise Minster K Babu.Opposition Deputy leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who raised the issue, said that Babu was reducing the licence fee for bars from the proposed amount of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 23 lakh on his own and he sought the Cabinet nod for the decision one-and-a-half months later. In the meantime, the Bar owners Association had mobilized Rs 27 crore to bribe the ministers and it had paid Rs 10 crore to Babu alone.Babu said that it was in view of the emergency nature of the issue that he took the decision to fix Rs 23 lakh as licence fee without the approval of the Cabinet. The order in that regard was issued on March 27, 2013. He said such a decision was warranted as the Abkari policy for the year 2013-14 had not been prepared on time. He also said that it was not an unprecedented act for ministers to issue orders and later seek the Cabinet nod.