The Kerala High Court on Tuesday (November 10) set aside the police notices issued to the manager of the Radisson Blu hotel at Kadavanthra in Kochi, an FL-3 licensed five-star bar hotel, which had restricted its operation beyond 12 midnight and its DJ parties beyond 11 p.m. A detailed order is awaited.

Source: Live Law

Justice Murali Purushothaman held that the hotel is entitled to function till 3 a.m. — three hours beyond the permissible closing time of 12 midnight — in view of the amended Foreign Liquor Rules, 1953 and the permission granted by the Deputy Excise Commissioner, for the financial year 2026-27 except on the eve of a statutory dry day. The case is Mahadevan v. State of Kerala and Others.

Source: Bar and Bench

The petitioner had challenged notices issued by the Assistant Commissioner of Police and the Police Inspector of Kadavanthara police station. Police had pointed to repeated incidents of violence, drug offences and public disorder reported from the hotel during 2026. The Police Commissioner clarified, as reported by Bar and Bench, that the notices barred only DJ programmes beyond 11 p.m. and did not stop the service of alcohol, which remained permitted until 3 a.m.

Police must act on actual crime, court says

The court held that until the government frames appropriate rules prescribing exceptions to the extended hours permitted under the Foreign Liquor Rules, the police cannot curtail or restrict a hotel's operating hours contrary to those rules in the absence of special grounds justifying such restrictions. It added that the police remain responsible for taking stringent action in accordance with law against actual criminal activity.

With the notices set aside and the writ petition disposed of, the ruling applies the same protection to FL-3 hotels across Kerala that hold excise permission for extended hours, while leaving the police free to act against specific offences as they occur.