PANAJI, Jul 5 (Times of India): It's a cold rainy evening and you want to warm yourself with a shot of feni at St Francis Xavier bar. Or after a hard day's labour, you wish for a chilled draught or two at Durga bar, or Vailankani bar, St Anthony bar or St Thomas taverna.
The pleasure will be yours no more. No, the government's not taking away your right to drink, it's taking away the hallowed name of your favourite tavern.
The government has just amended the excise rules to ban liquor bars with religious names. In fact, the rule "comes into force at once", since a notification to this effect was issued on June 26, 2009. While it immediately affects those seeking new licenses and renewals, excise officials said the government would have to take a policy decision on existing bars.
Goa has about 6,500 licensed liquor bars and it is not uncommon to find them named after gods, goddesses and saints.
By adding sub-rule 11 to rule 90 of the Goa excise duty rules, the finance department has said: "No licensee having a licence for retail sale of India-made foreign liquor and country liquor and/or foreign liquor for consumption on premises shall carry out the business in the name and style which denotes any religious name."
Excise commissioner Sandeep Jacques told TOI on Saturday that the new rule is in compliance with a private member's resolution passed in the assembly by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar in 2008. Asked how the government would ensure compliance, Jacques said fresh licenses to applicants aspiring to open liqour bars with religious names would not be given. What if the owner tried to hoodwink the government? Jacques said, "It will lead to cancellation of the license."
The excise commissioner however, said the government would have to take a policy decision on existing bars with religious names. "Some of these bars have developed a lot of goodwill and a brand image under a particular name. The government will have to consider their plight," Jacques said.
Finance secretary Udipta Ray said that his department issued the notification after the assurances committee of the legislative assembly directed them to comply with Parrikar's resolution which was passed in the assembly.
When asked how the government would deal with existing bars, Ray said the rule would be made applicable to all fresh applications as well as to those coming up for renewals. Ray however, said "some matters relating to the rule are yet to be clarified". He added that the finance department is consulting the law department on how to define the term "religious name".
When contacted, Parrikar said, "God's name should be associated with good things. A bar is not a positive thing. Giving it god's name can hurt the sentiments of people. I don't think it is allowed anywhere in the country. The chances of unholy things happening in bars with holy names are high."