In 2015, two women -- Dhanyamol CJ and Soniya Das -- who were employees of hotel White Dammar International in Thiruvananthapuram fought a legal battle against Kerala government for prohibiting women from serving liquor in bars and hotels. The Kerala High Court ruled in their favour, upholding their liberty to work, and said placing curbs on their freedom would victimise them on the pretext of protection.
Six years later, however, a similar case unfolded -- on March 15, 2022, a hotel owner in Kochi, was arrested for appointing women to serve liquor and for not maintaining stock register. The videos of the bar inauguration that circulated in social media showed women from other countries serving liquor. The case was registered invoking Rule 27A of the Foreign Liquor Rules, violation of licence conditions 12 and 9A, and and section 56B of the Kerala Abkari Act (miscoduct by licensee).
This Rule 27A was added to the Foreign Liquor Rules in 2013, through a government order dated December 9. The rule states, “No woman shall be employed in any capacity for serving liquor in the licensed premises.” Justifying the amendment, the order states, “The government has received various complaints that women are being employed in licensed premises for serving liquor to their customers. For prohibiting such practices, the government has decided to amend the Foreign Liquor Rules.”
This rule was not revoked or amended despite Justice Dama Sheshadri’s observation in the ‘Dhanyamol CJ vs State Of Kerala’ case in 2015. He observed, “Women would be as vulnerable without state protection as by the loss of freedom because of the impugned Act. The present law ends up victimising its subject in the name of protection.” The judgment also added, “Instead of putting curbs on women's freedom, empowerment would be a more tenable and socially wise approach. This empowerment should reflect in the law enforcement strategies of the state as well as law modeling done on this behalf.”
The court also held that ruled, “It needs no much cogitation to hold that Rule 27A of Kerala Foreign Liquor Rules as well as condition 9 A under the head Conditions in Forms FL 3 (the license given to bars and hotels for bottling of foreign liquor for the purpose of sale) fall foul of the Constitutional scheme of gender equality as has been spelt out in Articles 14, 15 (1) & (2) and 16 (1) & (2) of the Constitution of India. It is accordingly held. As a result, the writ petition is allowed.”
It is learnt that the Kerala government did not amend its 2013 rule, even after a court order.
Ernakulam Assistant Excise Commissioner, Tenymon B, told TNM that rule is not yet amended by the government, so it exists. “This was not the only offence in this case, they (the hotel owner in Kochi) were booked also for not maintaining a stock register. In bars serving liquor for consumption, women aren’t allowed to be hired. Women can only be appointed in FL-1 licensed shops,” he said. FL-1 is the license for the possession of Indian Made Foreign Liqour (IMFL) for sale to the public. It differs from the FL-3 license because establishments having FL-1 license are not allowed to consume liquor in their premises. Further, women are hired in beverages’ outlets owned by state government in sales, billing, etc. In these outlets, consuming in the premises not allowed they can pack and take liquor (under FL-1 license). Around 50 women work in Kerala State Beverages outlets.
Another Excise Department officer who sought anonymity said that in Kochi, Russian women were appointed to serve the liquor. “We don’t think that they were permanent staff. But were these women were brought from Russia? The officials had suspicions, so the owner was booked under available provisions,” said the officer.
However, sources close to the Kochi hotel management claimed that the foreign women were not their employees, that it was a party and they were serving each other.
Advocate Thomas Abraham, who represented Dhanyamol, told TNM that there was no direction from the court to amend the rule 27A. “It is the discretion of the government whether to amend the rule, based on this court order,” he said.
V Sunil Kumar, state president Federation of Kerala Hotels Association organization comprised of hotels, approved restaurants, resorts and heritage hotels having liquor permits operating in the state, said that many women are working in bars and any action against it is contempt of court. He is also the owner of White Dammar International, where Dhanyamol and Soniya worked.
“Around 40 women are working in my hotel. Across Kerala, many women work in bar hotels and serve liquor. We have a favorable court order,” he said. “In the recent Kochi issue, they appointed foreigners (women) to serve liquor. As far as I know, there were some issues related to that. We are not sure that they had taken licenses to appoint foreigners,” he added.
He also pointed out that though the government did not amend the rule, after the HC order, there were no restrictions in appointing women.