Now, city’s bars and restaurants can deliver liquor to your homes

City residents can now order liquor from bars and restaurants. The collectors of Mumbai city and suburban districts have issued orders, allowing bars and restaurants with FL-III licences (licence needed to serve imported and Indian-made foreign liquor) to deliver liquor in sealed bottles, the Bombay high court (HC) was told on Tuesday. Additional government pleader Abhay Patki, however, clarified that the permission, as of now, was only for clearing the licenced bars and restaurants’ existing stock of liquor.

Patki was responding to a petition filed by the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association, which complained that despite the state excise department’s order of May 19 allowing restaurants to clear their existing stock, and the collectors of Mumbai city and suburban districts giving their nods to deliver liquor at customers’ homes, permissions were not given to establishments with FL-III licenses to sell liquor.

In its petition filed through advocate Veena Thadani, the association said bars and restaurants across Mumbai have paid hefty licence fees, but their businesses have remained closed since the lockdown. The petition added that these establishments have stocks worth lakhs of rupees, which can become unfit for consumption after its expiry date, causing further losses to the bar and restaurant owners.

Advocate Thadani on Tuesday withdrew the petition after Patki informed the court about the orders issued by both the city collectors.