Minister, commissioner at loggerheads

Bidari’s recent act of issuing draft rules to impose some restrictions on liquor houses has left the minister fuming. He recently issued the draft of the Licensing and Controlling of Liquor Houses (Bangalore City) order 2010, which mandates all places serving liquor to get police permission apart from clearance from the Excise Department. The draft rule restricts the number of women bartenders and suggests dress code for them. He claimed he had provisions to issue the order under the Police Act.

The differences between the two first cropped up on the issue of extending timing of bars in star hotels. While the minister favoured it, the police officer opposed it citing law and order issues.

Excise Minister Renukacharya, in a press conference in Bangalore on Friday, termed the draft rule as duplication of what is already in the Karnataka Excise Act 1963. He said: “Our staff is efficient enough to deliver their duty effectively, let the police perform their duty. There should not be overlapping of responsibilities.”

The Excise Department has decided to file its objections to the draft rules issued by the police commissioner. Arvind Jannu, the commissioner of Excise, said that the Excise Act dealt with all regulations that the police commissioner’s order mentioned.

The Act talked about decent dress code, morality and ethical values. There was no need of duplicating the same under the Police Act. Renukacharya said the issue would be discussed with the Chief Minister. A meeting of the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries of Finance and Home Department would be called soon to discuss the issue.
DH News Service