Near total prohibition in Kerala, only five-star hotels allowed to serve alcohol

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The News Minute | March 31, 2015 | 4.45 pm IST After a prolonged battle, the Kerala High Court has accepted state government’s liquor policy on prohibition, which means that alcohol will no longer be available anywhere in the state except in five-star hotels. A division bench including Justice K T Shankaran and Justice Babu Mathew has struck down a single-bench ruling that allowed four-star hotels, five-star and heritage hotels to serve alcohol. The state government will phase out liquor reducing the number of outlets selling alcohol by 10% each year, but from April 1, alcohol will not be available on Sundays. All other hotels in the state will be allowed to serve wine and beer. Read: Kerala High Court gives green signal to liquor prohibition The earlier ruling by the High Court came after an association of bar owners approached the High Court against the state government’s decision to ban alcohol in the state. The United Democratic Front had announced a phased liquor prohibition policy and had made it clear that 418 sub-standard bars that had already been shut down last April and 312 more liquor bars will be shut down from April 1, 2015. Read: Wine bone of contention in Kerala's new liquor policy Tweet Follow @thenewsminute

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