Thiruvananthapuram: The Keralam Excise Department on Monday revoked former excise commissioner Seeram Sambasiva Rao's decision to grant FL-7 licence to operate a bar in the Earth Lounge of Cochin International Airport Limited, Nedumbassery. The Department's order comes two days after Rao was removed as the excise commissioner.

Nonetheless, two other lounge bar licences that were granted under Rao's watch in July, without getting the government's approval, have not been cancelled. Rao had argued that the excise commissioner had the authority to provide FL-7 licences, which permits the sale of liquor in airports.

However, a third application for a lounge bar in CIAL was forwarded by the then excise commissioner to the government. The government had rejected the application saying that new licences could be issued only after the government came out with its Excise Policy.

The message that licences should be granted only on the basis of the new Excise Policy was communicated by the Taxes Department through an official letter dated November 3, 2026.

The application that has now been rejected was submitted by George Dominic of Anjali Hotels Private Limited on June 23. Rao had not forwarded this application to the government for approval. He is said to have reasoned that this was VIP lounge that was not accessible to ordinary passengers. And the decision to grant FL-7 licence to Dominic was taken on October 12. The annual FL-7 licence fee of Rs 2 lakh was also collected from the applicant. However, unlike applicants who were granted licences in July, Dominic was not granted the FL-7 licence.

Kerala Foreign Liquor Rules 13(B) 3 says that a bar, even if it had secured sanction, cannot operate without a licence. Therefore, it was easy for the Department to revoke the decision taken by the former excise commissioner to grant FL-7 licence. Dominic's application has also been rejected. The applicant can now reclaim the annual fee he had paid, and if interested, can re-apply after the UDF government releases its Excise Policy.

Such a decision could not be taken in the case of other two lounge bars because they were already granted licences. The Excise Department received legal advice that revoking these FL-7 licences would not stand judicial scrutiny.