PANAJI: Even though 1,345 liquor licenses have not been renewed in compliance with the Supreme Court (SC) order, it is not the end of the road for liquor traders as these licences can be shifted to another place.
Commissioner of Excise Amit Satija, said, "It's not as if we have cancelled these 1,345 liquor licenses. They have been given an option to shift to another place -- outside the purview of Supreme Court's order. In fact, we will not even charge any transfer fee for such cases."
Satija also said that some of these 1,345 liquor licence holders have already approached the excise department to move to a different location.
The Supreme Court, through its December 2016 order, had barred sale of alcohol, whether from retail outlets or hotels or restaurants, within 500 meters from the outer edge of national and state highways.
In March 2017, the Apex Court gave a clarification saying that the distance of 500 meters from the outer edge of highways should be reduced to 220 meters for areas in local bodies having a population of up to 20,000. Sometime later, Goa government amended its excise act changing the methos of measuring distance itself from "as a crow flies" to "from the nearest approachable road."
Due to both these reasons, Satija said 169 liquor licences could be renewed, which were earlier falling within the 500 meters from outer edge of highways, if measured by "as a crow flies" methodology.
But, the biggest saviour for alcohol business in the state was the SC's observation as per which the order wasn't applicable to highways going through city areas. This saved the day for liquor licenses in Ponda, Vasco and Margao. As many as 1,200 liquor licenses could be renewed due to this observation.
In nutshell, only 1,345 licenses of overall 11,900 licenses in the state have not been renewed due to SC's order and these too have an option to shift to another place.
--------------------------------------------------
SAY CHEERS!
* Not the end of the road for 1,345 SC order-hit liquor traders as they can shift to another place
* Commissioner of Excise says those willing to shift will not be charged any fee in such cases
* Some of them have already approached the excise department to move to a different location
* SC had barred sale of alcohol within 500 meters from outer edge of national & state highways
* In nutshell, only 1,345 licenses of overall 11,900 licenses in the state have not been renewed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
