Clubs can serve liquor at multiple counters

Clubs in Bengaluru and elsewhere in Karnataka can now serve liquor to patrons at multiple counters with a single licence. 

The new rule that permits multiple counters under section 71 of the Karnataka Excise (Sale of Indian and Foreign Liquor) (Amendment) Rules, 2016, came into force on Friday. The Excise Department had penalised clubs that were serving liquor at multiple points with a single licence. For almost a decade now, clubs had been urging the government to allow them to serve liquor at multiple points on their premises. 

In November 2014, senior IPS officer R P Sharma had complained that the 145-year-old Bangalore Club was serving liquor at multiple points using a single licence. Sharma had run into a dispute with the club management over entering its premises. Following his complaint, the Excise Department cancelled its licence. 

As per the notification issued by the Department of Finance under which the Excise Department comes, clubs can set up a maximum of four liquor counters on their premises by paying an annual fee of Rs 1 lakh for each additional counter. The relaxation will not only boost the liquor sales but also bring in revenue to the department in the form of additional fee. 

Karnataka has a total of 214 clubs, most of them in Bengaluru. H S Srikanth, secretary, Federation of Clubs of Karnataka, welcomed the new rule, saying their decade-long demand for multiple counters had been fulfilled. He said that with a single counter, waiters often found it difficult to serve the members sitting in various corners of the club. 

“The department is, however, yet to invite applications for multiple counters. Clubs will apply once it invites the applications. Without having any fear, clubs can now set up multiple liquor counters to better serve their members,” he told Deccan Herald. 

S N Prasad, Principal Secretary (Finance), told this newspaper, “Before the notification, clubs had the practice to serve liquor to their members from multiple counters, we just legalised them.”