[Updated] Battery of senior lawyers in Kerala Bar license cancellation; Teetotaler Dave J. allows early hearing for stay

A battery of senior lawyers secured an early hearing of an interim application filed by Bar owners of Kerala seeking a stay of the cancellation of Bar licenses. The cancellation takes effect from September 12, that is in two days..Senior Advocates Aryama Sundaram, Rajeev Dhavan, Fali Nariman and Ram Jethmalani appeared for the Bar owners while Senior Advocate and former Law Minister, Kapil Sibal represented the Kerala government..A Bench presided by Justice Anil R Dave agreed to hear the matter tomorrow while inquiring as to the logic behind the policy..When the hearing began, Sundaram said that there is no “prohibition” as was made out to be in the popular media. He argued that,.“Government outlets will be allowed to sell liquor. Five star hotels can have bars. Toddy shops can continue.”.Sundaram proceeded to submit that though the High Court had admitted the writ petition of the Bar owners, it refused to grant stay. Seeking to maintain status quo until the High Court disposes the matter, Sundaram said that, .“The High Court has admitted the matter; it has seen merits to entertain our writ but has not granted stay.”.Justice Dave, in turn, sought to understand the rationale adopted by the Kerala government. Questioning Sibal, Dave observed,.“I might be a teetotaler. But there seems to be no logic [behind excluding five star hotels].”.The Court said the matter would be heard tomorrow while orally asking the parties not to take any coercive actions..Under the new policy, which is being projected by the government as the first step towards prohibition, licenses of more than 700 Bars will expire on September 12. Subsequently, only five star hotels will be allowed to serve liquor..Update 11.09.2014: The Supreme Court has directed the Kerala government to maintain status quo till September 30 while holding that a single judge of the Kerala High Court would hear and decide the writ of the Bar owners on merits. Justice Anil R Dave continued his criticism of the State government’s policy of allowing five star hotels to continue selling liquor. “A rich guy can drink because he can afford to go to a five star hotel but a poor chap cannot. So, it is better to ban it totally like Gujarat. Then nobody can drink”, remarked Justice Dave..The matter will now be heard by the Kerala High Court on September 18..Image Courtesy:.Rajeev Dhavan.Fali S Nariman