Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Friday morning has trashed the petition of the State government seeking to defer the hearing of the bar licence cases.
Rejecting the government’s plea citing the advocate general’s inconvenience to appear for the case, Justice V. Chidambaresh has said the cases will be considered at 2 p.m today.
The bench will hear 54 cases related to the issuance of bar licence.
Justice C T Ravikumar, who was hearing a batch of petitions relating to renewal of licenses of 418 bars in different parts of the state continuously till April 11, Tuesday had recused from hearing the case, observing that he was approached by a counsel.
According to the Judge, a counsel K Thavamony, came to his residence on Monday and “attempted to speak” about the issue touching the case.
The state government had put on hold renewal of the licenses of 418 bars as they were found to be substandard and yet to upgrade their facilities.
The Justice Ramachandran Commission, which is looking into the Abkari Policy of the state, had suggested the government should notify that licenses of bar hotels that do not come under the three-star or four star category would not be renewed after the expiry of existing licenses.