Thiruvananthapuram: Deputy Excise Commissioners in all divisions of Kerala have been directed not to issue fresh liquor licences until the new liquor policy for 2026-27 is framed, officials said on Sunday. No proceedings on fresh licences are to be initiated until the policy is in place.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine

The direction came in a communication sent on Saturday by Additional Excise Commissioner (Enforcement) R Jayasankar, who holds additional charge of Excise Commissioner. The communication referred to government directives dated November 3 and August 4, 2026, on the grant of licences for various businesses, including liquor sales, and said the government had issued strict instructions against granting fresh licences in the present circumstances.

Earlier applications will have to be filed again

After the new government assumed office in May 2026, it decided not to grant fresh licences on applications already submitted to the department, Jayasankar said. Applicants have instead been asked to resubmit their applications after the new liquor policy is formulated, subject to revised conditions and legal provisions.

The freeze follows the earlier bar-licence row

The order is the latest and most formal step in a controversy that has been building for days. Jayasankar was given additional charge after the incumbent Excise Commissioner, Seeram Sambasiva Rao, was transferred from the post. Excise Minister M Liju had expressed dissatisfaction after three bars in Ernakulam and Kottayam districts were granted licences under the previous LDF government's liquor policy, and he suspended two Deputy Excise Commissioners for granting those licences. He had also objected to a licence granted to a Chalakudy-based bakery chain to sell horti wine, intervened to cancel it and transferred the official who had granted it.

Reporting on the same circular said the directive follows allegations that liquor licences were granted in violation of government instructions, with the controversy centred on approvals for beer and wine parlours and lounge bars at Kochi airport. The allegations remain allegations at this stage.

Source: Urban Acres

What happens next turns on the policy itself: Liju had announced that the UDF government's new liquor policy would be presented by the end of this month. Until it is framed, every fresh liquor licence application in the state stays on hold.