Special licence required in TN to serve liquor at banquet, marriage halls, home functions

Tamil Nadu residents should now be ready to pay for an all new separate liquor licence if they are serving liquor at commercial venues like marriage halls, banquet halls and sports stadiums or even at their homes if they are hosting celebrations, functions and parties.

In a surprise move, the Tamil Nadu (TN) government has brought in a new special liquor licence by amending the Tamil Nadu Liquor (Licence and Permit) Rules, 1981. So, a new liquor license is required in TN if liquor is to be served in convention centres, conference halls, banquet and marriage halls as well as sports stadiums and household functions.

Until now, licences were just given to clubs, star hotels and there was no scope for issuing licence for public events at commercial places or private functions at homes. Now, this licence has been introduced to fill that lacuna.

According to the Tamil Nadu government gazette dated March 18, the Home, Prohibition and Excise department, has amended the rules to bring in a special licence under the sub-heading, ‘Special licence for possession and serving of liquor’.

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What this special licence entails

The special licence will be valid for a specific time duration for one or more days.

It will be issued by the excise deputy commissioner or assistant commissioner with the prior approval of the district collector, on payment of licence fees as specified.

This licence is now required to serve Indian Made Foreign Spirits and Imported Foreign Liquor to the guests, visitors and participants, during international and national summits, at events, conferences, celebrations, festivals etc.

The licensee and the licensor will have to specify the place at which the event will be held.

The licensee has also to obtain a ‘no objection certificate’ from the police commissioner for events held in the corporation limits and from the superintendent of police for events held in the districts.

Furthermore, the licensee has to obtain the liquor supplies from the wholesale depots of Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) Limited that is located nearest to the place of event. They can also acquire the liquor from any other source the excise deputy commissioner and assistant commissioner may approve.

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Application process and fee

Every application for a special licence shall be made online seven working days before the date of the event. The issue of liquor special licence may be in pegs or bottles for consumption.

There is an annual registration fee for the special licence for the commercial premises and a fee per day for the issue of permit for a single event. For commercial premises, the annual registration fee to acquire the special licence is ₹1 lakh for events in the municipal corporation area, ₹75,000 for those in the municipalities and ₹50,000 at other places.

No annual registration fee is required for the special licence on the non-commercial premises.

The fee per day to get a permit for conducting one event is ₹11,000 (in the municipal corporations), ₹7,500 (in the municipalities) and ₹5,000 (at other places). For people who want the special licence for “one-time” possession and supply of liquor in non-commercial places for household celebrations, functions and parties, this can be got by forking out ₹11,000 (in the municipal corporations), ₹7,500 (in the municipalities) and ₹5,000 (at other places).

Tamil Nadu government has brought a special license for allowing the serving of liquor in conference halls, convention centres, marriage halls, banquet halls, sports stadiums and household functions pic.twitter.com/JS0MePPfx3

— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2023

This latest move by the Stalin government is in direct contrast to the previous AIADMK government’s efforts to curtail the liquor business in the state. After taking over as CM in 2016, J Jayalalithaa had announced the closure of 500 liquor outlets and had reduced the business hours of state run liquor shops in the state by two hours. Later, Edappadi Palaniswami too closed down 500 liquor outlets owned by the public sector TASMAC in February 2017.