States must take steps to cut alcohol intake: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a thumbs up to the Kerala government’s decision to limit sale of liquor to shops and five-star hotels and threw out petitions by owners of three and four-star hotels that the policy is arbitrary and discriminatory.
A bench of Justices Vikramajit Sen and Shiva Kirti Singh said there was urgent need to curtail liquor consumption in Kerala as the state with 100% literacy accounted for 14% of total alcohol drunk in India.
“Banning public consumption of alcohol cannot but be seen as a positive step towards bringing down consumption... or as a preparatory to prohibition. We find no illegality or irrationality with the intention of the state to clamp down on public consumption of alcohol,” the bench said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday quoted Article 47 of the Constitution which provides that the “state shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption, except for medical purposes, of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health” to uphold the Kerala government’s decision to limit sale of liquor in the state.
The court said it was aware that attempts at prohibition had not succeeded in the country and added this made it imperative that state governments must take steps to curtail alcohol consumption.
Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Sen said, “The Kerala government policy, therefore, is to be encouraged and is certainly not to be struck down or discouraged by the courts… Placing a moratorium on all hotels other than 5-star hotels, therefore, is not a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.”
The bench added, “We have already noted that the least amount of sale of alcohol (0.08%) occurs in 5-star hotels, which indubitably includes guest orders in room service. There can be no gainsaying that the prices/tariff of alcohol in 5-star hotels is usually prohibitively high, which acts as a deterrent to individuals going in for binge or even casual drinking. There is also little scope for cavil that the guests in 5-star hotels are of a mature age; they do not visit these hotels with the sole purpose of consuming alcohol.”
In Kerala, shops selling foreign liquor accounted for 75.39% of the total sales while un-starred hotels accounted for 13.56%, 2-star hotels 2.36%, 3-star hotels 7.76%, 4-star hotels 0.4% and 5-star hotels 0.08% of the total sale.
The SC noted with concern allegations by hotel owners’ association that some 5-star hotels had opened their premises for consumption of liquor priced much lower than 5-star rates.
It said, “This may be a good and sufficient reason to denude these hotels of their 5-star gradation. Such malpractices will have to be immediately erased by the state, as its failure to do so will invite further litigation on the grounds that the policy prohibits public consumption of alcohol is only cosmetic and partisan.
“As in the case of 5-star hotels violating the ambience which they portray by enabling drinking in specially created bars at lower prices, the unregulated permission to consume beer and wine throughout the state by freely granting liquor licences also is extremely difficult to appreciate.”
The SC took note that thousands of workers had lost jobs due to closure of bars and pubs and some had committed suicide. It was told that the 5% cess on liquor sale had not been utilized by the government to rehabilitate those who rendered jobless because of the government policy to ban public consumption of liquor. It asked the aggrieved persons to approach the high court for proper redress of their complaints.
The hotel owners argued that banning liquor at pubs/bars and 2-, 3- and 4-star hotels had not reduced consumption of alcohol as sales by liquor shops had increased. But the SC said buying from a shop and drinking at home before the family was a deterrent in itself.
“Purchase of alcohol from a liquor shop would entail consuming it under the reproachful gaze of the dependants, especially the female members of the family. This is certainly a discouragement to regular and excessive consumption of alcohol. We must accept that the possibility exists that rooms may be rented in 3- and 4-star hotels, where alcohol can be brought from liquor shops and then consumed. However, this is does not constitute public consumption,” it said.