Keralam's stand on bars without valid classification contradicts CAG report, Centre's affidavit

Thiruvananthapuram: The affidavit filed by the state government in the High Court, defending hotels whose classification certificates have not been renewed, contradicts both the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the affidavit submitted by the Union Tourism Ministry.

In 2024, the CAG had pointed out that classification by the Union Tourism Ministry was a mandatory requirement for hotels applying for bar licences. It had also found that granting bar licences merely on the grounds that hotels had applied for classification was irregular.

While the state government claims that the Centre had expressed its inability to process applications due to their large number, the Union Tourism Ministry has told the High Court that not a single application was kept pending on account of such constraints.

The CAG report had flagged the renewal of bar licences in 2023-24 by the LDF government to 145 hotels that had not renewed their classification certificates. Under the Kerala Foreign Liquor Rules, bar licences can be granted only to hotels classified by the Union Tourism Ministry.

However, citing a backlog of classification applications, the government renewed the bar licences of hotels whose classification certificates had expired in 2023-24. The CAG noted that eight hotels had received renewals for the fourth consecutive year and 10 others for the third consecutive year. Since no changes had been made to the rules, the practice amounted to irregularities, it said.

The LDF government continued the practice in 2024-25 and 2025-26, disregarding the CAG's observations.

The new government has argued that bar licences can be renewed for hotels whose classification applications have not been rejected. However, the affidavit submitted by the Joint Director of the Union Tourism Ministry makes it clear that merely submitting an application or having it pending does not mean that a hotel has been granted classification. The Centre also denied deliberately delaying the process. It said inspections had been completed for 574 applications since April 1, 2024.

The committee examining classifications up to the three-star category is headed by the Additional Director of Tourism of the state, while the committee dealing with higher categories is headed by the Additional Director of Tourism at the Centre.

The Centre's affidavit also pointed out that of the 120 classification applications pending inspection in Keralam, 81 require inspections to be initiated by the state government. The matter is before the High Court following a public interest litigation filed by Kollam DCC general secretary M M Sanjeev Kumar.

Classification applications pending inspection

• Three-star: 81
• Four-star: 28
• Five-star: 6
• Heritage: 5