Political skirmishing over whether the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) dispensation or the current Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) allowed the Excise department officials a “free rein” to grant bar licences without ministerial sanction escalated on Wednesday. Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan and Excise Minister M. Liju had blamed the LDF government for the “liberal granting” of bar licences by ceding the authority to lower-level excise officials, possibly to evade political responsibility.
The Excise department’s “hasty” reclassification of wine and beer parlours as bars, and the almost “instantaneous” approval to open lounge bars at Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), had caught the government off guard. Mr. Satheesan and Mr. Liju accused Excise department officials of jumping the gun and blindsiding the government as it formulated Keralam’s liquor policy for the 2026-27 financial year for promulgation on November 30.
They said Excise department officials had used the LDF government’s controversial decision to empower Deputy Excise Commissioners to grant bar licences as a foil to grant liquor licences behind the UDF government’s back.
The ruling alliance also seemed edgy that the expeditious issuance of bar licences might incense the UDF’s prohibitionist base comprising powerful Christian and Muslim social organisations. Moreover, the UDF government was also miffed that the issuance of bar licences appeared starkly selective, given that 29 applications were pending disposal in the Excise department.
However, the UDF government’s attempt to blame the previous government for the “embarrassing faux pas” met with strong pushback from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)]. CPI(M) State Secretariat member and former Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh accused Mr. Satheesan and Mr. Liju of “lying” to save face. He said the Oommen Chandy government opened the door to issuing airport bar licences by creating a new licence category (FL-7) in 2011. Moreover, the then UDF government also empowered Deputy Excise Commissioners to issue such licences for serving foreign liquor to passengers transiting through international and domestic airports.
He said the LDF had not broken or amended the 40-year-old Abkari rules, which mandated ministerial sanction to issue bar licences. He said the LDF had never lost political control of the Excise department, and the administration had not granted any licence behind the Minister’s back. Mr. Rajesh said the LDF had made the bar licence process online to ensure transparency. He dared Mr Liju to debate on the subject.
Published – November 05, 2026 12:43 am IST
