PANJIM: Ahead of the hearing into the alleged illegal liquor licence issue pertaining to the ‘Silly Souls Café and Bar’ in Assagao, the café and bar run by Union Minister Smriti Irani’s teenage daughter is once again into controversy.

Advocate Aires Rodrigues, who first exposed the illegality, has claimed that the establishment is also illegal as it is built without obtaining any construction licence.

With the panchayat confirming that no construction licence was issued, Rodrigues said he has filed a complaint before the Director of Panchayats (DoP) seeking action against the illegally built restaurant.

“Within the jurisdiction of Assagao Village Panchayat in Bardez at Bouta Vaddo in Survey No 236 Sub Division No 21 and 22, a huge illegal construction has come up including a compound wall. The construction activity which reportedly started in 2019-2020 is now a huge bar & restaurant under the name of ‘Silly Souls Café and Bar’ and that it was pertinent to note that Sub-Division 21 was a tenanted field which has been illegally filled in absolute breach of law,” Rodrigues has stated in the petition filed before the DoP on Tuesday.

The petitioner has urged the department to direct the village panchayat to seal the entire illegal structure immediately, take necessary steps as per law to demolish the illegal construction and prosecute the persons involved in this blatant illegal activity done in violation of the law.

The fresh bout of problems for the Irani family comes when the Excise Commissioner is scheduled to hear the matter of alleged illegal alcohol licence on July 29, at 11 am.

Excise Commissioner Narayan Gad had last week issued a Show Cause Notice on the validity of the Excise licence issued to ‘Silly Souls Café and Bar’. Although, the Union Minister rubbished allegations against her daughter at a press conference in Delhi, there are several pieces of evidence in form of video and social media posts confirming her daughter as the owner of the now controversial ‘Silly Souls Café and Bar’.