Cops won’t say cheers to bar owners
MANISH PACHOULY
[ Wednesday, July 09, 2003 03:06:22 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
The city police and the dance and orchestra bar owners are at logger heads over
the non-payment of performance licence fee by the latter since September 2001.
The police have given an ultimatum to the bar owners to pay the fee immediately
or face closure of their establishments. There are 750 dance and orchestra bars
in Mumbai. The police deadline ended on Monday.
The ultimatum was given last week after Police Commissioner R S Sharma issued a
notice to all police stations asking them to take necessary action against the
erring bars. “If they don’t pay, necessary legal action will be taken
according to the law. They will also be asked to close down,” says Sharma.
The tussle between the bars and the government over the performance licence fee
is on since 2001 when it was increased to Rs 1,500 per day from the earlier Rs
25 per day. The dance bar owners then filed a petition in the Mumbai High Court
challenging the amendment. The case is still pending. According to Manjit Singh
Sethi, President of Maharashtra Liquor Association, the matter is likely to come
up for hearing on Thursday or Friday. “We will request the police to wait till
the case is heard. We are also planning to meet the chief minister this week
over the issue.”
He says that the government brought the fee down to Rs 500 per day around three
months ago. “But they are asking us to pay it from September 2001 when the fee
was increased. If we calculate, it comes to Rs 3.25 lakh for the period. Nobody
is in a position to pay it,” he avers. Sethi says that he has suggested to the
members of the association to go on a strike if the issue is not solved.
However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Rajnish Seth, who is
handling the issue, says that the bar owners have been asked to pay off the
pending dues as it is a loss of revenue to the government. “If they fail to do
so, the local police stations will start charging them. They will also be closed
down as they will be violating the licence fee condition.”
manish.pachouly@timesgroup.com
[Times of India, Wednesday, July 09, 2003 ]