If yesterday was the day of the booze haters today belongs to the opposite camp. A bench of Kerala High Court stayed the order of the single judge regarding closure of bars in three and two star hotels. The stay is for one month till the double bench court decides on the issue. it has given the bar owners a short reprieve and some degree of confidence to fight out the case.
The stay of the order of th single bench which allows status qua, was immediately picked up by the Kerala Opposition (LDF) to lash out the ruling UDF. it is alleged that there was a politcal brinkmanship game over the closure of the bars, between the two factions of the ruling alliance, one led by the chief minister Ommen Chandy and the other VM Sudheeran, KPCC President, each claiming the ban as the victory of theirs.
One has to see how the game is going to be played out in future. The liquor lobby has considerable stake in the game since they stand to loose considerably if over 65o bars are closed down. They will play all the games up in their sleeves to avoid that eventuality, or atleast delay it till the time they have to renew their licenses. The bar licenses are auctioned out and the licenses are pricey. Also, by that time they can exhaust their stock, which according to some unofficial report, run into several crores of rupees.
One possibility is that if the court decision is delayed by any case (if the bar owners do not get the right decision from Kerala High Court, they will approach the Supreme Court and vice versa) the issue can be precipitated as an election issue. Importantly, Kerala is going to polls in 2016. Also, the ruling UDF will not be able to take credit for the liquor ban. Also, the powerful liquor lobby will trow their support to the LDF in anticipation of favoring them once they come into power.
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