Following confusion among restaurant and bar owners with regard to home delivery of sealed foreign liquor bottles, a plea filed with the Bombay High Court by the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association has cleared the air somewhat. The plea said that despite bar owners carrying the necessary FL-III licenses, they were restricted from conducting home deliveries of sealed alcohol bottles.
In response to the Bombay High Court petition, counsel for the State Government, Abhay Patki responded that permission had already been provided to restaurant and bar owners to conduct deliveries of alcohol. However, the lawyer specified that permission had been provided only to clear out existing stock.
Also read - Alcohol Sale Begins In India And People Crowd Outside Liquor Shops
Patki’s plea to the Bombay High Court also mentioned that collectors from Mumbai city and Mumbai suburban districts had passed an order on May 22 permitting FL-III license holders to conduct home deliveries of foreign-made liquor.
The advocate for the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association, Veena Thadani, had originally mentioned that bar owners are facing tremendous losses with the closure as most beverages have an expiration date, adding that it will be unfit for human consumption.
The original plea was then withdrawn by Thadani as the government provided sufficient evidence and relevant data to suggest that home delivery of liquor has been permitted for more than two weeks now.
Bar owners and customers were at a loss when the nationwide lockdown was announced in March, which also led to the closure of liquor shops. However, as restrictions were eased in non-containment zones on May 4, people flocked to their nearby alcohol shops with barely any social distancing and safety measures. This drew the ire from across the spectrum and the city’s coronavirus situation only got worse after May 4.
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