Kerala to tighten bar licence rules, reject renewals for unclassified hotels

Kerala's Excise Minister M Liju said on Monday that the state government would refuse to renew bar licences for hotels whose applications for star classification have been rejected by the Union Tourism Ministry. He stated the government would maintain this position in cases currently before the Kerala High Court.

The announcement addresses concerns over bar licences being granted to hotels while their star classification applications remain pending with the Union Ministry. Liju clarified that star classification is a mandatory requirement for renewing bar licences, with the classification authority vesting with the Union Tourism Ministry.

The minister attributed recent procedural flexibility to pandemic-related delays in processing star classification applications. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, the state government had been renewing bar licences with approval from the state Tourism Department to address processing backlogs at the central level.

Liju directed officials to compile a comprehensive list of hotels whose star classification renewal applications had been rejected or were still awaiting decisions. The move is expected to bring greater uniformity to the state's bar licensing regime and align it more closely with central tourism standards.