Team Herald
PANJIM: In the financial year when fates of over a thousand liquor licences still hang in the balance, the State has recorded 212 new liquor outlets and 9,036 renewals of different types of licenses so far. The total licenses are certainly not those that fall under the ambit of Supreme Court’s December 15, 2016’s judgment banning sale of liquor within 500 mtrs of highways.
Excise Department expects the figures to cross 10,000-mark till the end of 2017-18; however it is likely that the State might not cross the last financial year’s record of nearly 12,000 license renewals (including around 300 new licenses).
“A total of 9,036 licenses are renewed that includes 212 fresh licenses, from April 2017 to February 2018. We expect more renewals/fresh licenses during this month,” an officer told Herald. Interestingly, maximum 115 fresh licences are issued to outlets in the tourist popular Bardez taluka followed by 32 each in Tiswadi and Salcette.
However, the reason that the department might not reach the margin of around 12,000 renewals and fresh licenses is attributed to the SC’s judgment in December 2016. Around 3,210 outlets, located within 500 mtrs of the highways straightaway came under the order’s ambit. BY this time, atleast 11,974 licenses were renewed. Nevertheless, the amended order on March 31, 2017 came as a relief to around 1,203 outlets as it offered some relaxation to outlets in small towns located beyond 220 mtrs.
The SC’s fresh order last month giving the “state governments discretion to decide, on facts, whether areas covered by local self-governing bodies or areas proximate to municipal pockets should be exempted from its nationwide prohibition on sale of liquor” has come to rescue of at least 1,332 outlets. The department is now preparing to write to the Finance Department to decide the fate of these outlets. Once approved, sources said, their licenses will also be renewed. “This will up the total renewals,” he added.
The fresh directions had come after states like Tamil Nadu sought clarification from the court whether panchayats would also come under the definition of “municipal areas.” The States cited that in future, these panchayats might be developed in a manner similar to municipalities or some of them might be geographically proximate to an urban agglomeration.
