THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has fetched around Rs 8 crore in the past six years by granting licences to people who wanted to jazz up their “special occasions” by serving liquor. From January 2017 to May 2023, the excise department issued special licences (FL 6) to 1,540 applicants, who wanted to serve booze at functions, after charging Rs 50,000 per day.
The department got 2,482 applications during the period, of which 522 were rejected. According to the excise sources, most of the licences granted were for marriage functions of a particular sect of the Christian community, professional gatherings and marriages.
“Serving alcohol is an integral part of the ritual associated with a particular Christian sect and hence, majority of the applicants belonged to that category. Also, various professionals, including doctors, have made use of the facility to serve alcohol during their conferences,” the source said.
According to the Foreign Liquor Rules and the Abkari Act, an individual can keep a maximum of 3 litres of Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), 3.5 litres of beer, 3.5 litres of wine, 2.5 litres of Foreign-made Foreign Liquor and 1.5 litres of toddy.
If the person wishes to throw a party for friends without exceeding the limit of alcohol the person is eligible to store and serve, then there is no need for obtaining the FL6 licence. The source said FL6 licence is a must if alcohol is served in a public place, such as an auditorium or a club.
‘Liquor should not be sold using FL6 licence’
“One strict rider is that liquor should not be sold using the FL6 licence,” said a senior excise official. “There are occasions where alcohol needs to be served in functions held in the confines of a residence. If the function is organised by a family having four adult members, the maximum quantity of IMFL the four can combinedly keep is 12 litres.
If they are serving within that limit, then there is no need for FL6 licence,” the official added. Those applying for the licence should present the required documents along with the invitation card of the function. The application should be filed online and the excise circle inspector will verify whether such an event is indeed taking place and the number of people who are expected to attend.
During the past six years, the Ernakulam excise circle office got the maximum number of applications (719), of which 542 were granted. The excise circle office in Kottayam received 289 applications and 232 were granted licence. Thiruvananthapuram excise circle office got 315 applications and 119 licences were granted.