Gujarat govt issues guidelines for liquor law exemption rules in GIFT City

Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], December 31 (ANI): About a week after relaxing the liquor consumption norms for the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) area in Gandhinagar, the state government issued a set of rules on Saturday to be implemented for hotels, clubs, or restaurants desiring to serve liquor and for their customers.
Any unit situated in GIFT City, desiring to obtain an FL-III licence shall apply to the Superintendent of Prohibition and Excise, Gandhinagar in Form "A". After due verification, the Superintendent of Prohibition and Excise shall send the proposal with his recommendation, through the Director to the GIFT Facilitation Committee for an appropriate decision. After approval by the Committee, the Superintendent of Prohibition and Excise shall issue the licence in Form FL-III, the government said in a Gazette notification on Saturday.
The licensee shall serve liquor for consumption in the approved "Wine and Dine" facility area only. To get a liquor licence for the "wine and dine" facility, one will have to pay Rs 1 lakh per annum and a Rs 2 lakh security deposit.
"The licence can be issued for a period of one to five years initially. Subsequently, it can be renewed for up to five years at a time. The fees for the F.L.-III licence shall be Rs 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh) only per annum and the security deposit shall be Rs 2,00,000/- (Rupees two lakh) only," the notification read.
"The licensee/Liquor Access Permit/ Temporary Permit holder shall comply with the provisions of the Gujarat Prohibition Act, 1949," it added.
These permits will be issued to those who have attained 21 years of age.
The rules further state that Recommending Officers will have to prepare a list of employees desiring to get LAP and send the list to the Authorised Officer.
The recommending officer shall prepare a list of employees desiring to obtain the Liquor Access Permit and shall send the same to the Authorized Officer.
"The Authorized Officer, shall send the approved list to Authorized Person(s); Superintendent of Prohibition & Excise and Recommending Officer. The Authorized Officer shall issue Liquor Access Permit cards on the basis of the approved list of employees and send the same to Recommending Officer," it said.
Similarly, for visitors, the Recommending Officer shall prepare a list of visitor(s) desiring to obtain temporary permit. One Liquor Access Permit holder of the concerned company, organisation, or unit shall be required to accompany such visitor(s) in the wine and dine area, it said.
The Liquor Access Permit shall be issued for two years and can be renewed for two years at a time. The fees for the permit shall be Rs 1000 per annum. Meanwhile, if the permit holder ceases to be an employee of the company, organisation, or unit at GIFT City, the permit shall stand cancelled, it added.
Gujarat has been a dry state since its formulation in 1960.
GIFT City is a world-class business district in Gujarat built to cater to global and domestic business enterprises.
Earlier on December 22, the Gujarat government allowed the sale and consumption of alcohol in some form in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) area.
A Liquor Access Permit will be given to all the employees or owners working in GIFT City through which they will be able to consume liquor in hotels, restaurants, and clubs offering "Wine and Dine", the official order of the state government said.
A day after the announcement, Gujarat Minister Rushikesh Patel said that the decision by the state government to allow the consumption of liquor in hotels, restaurants and clubs offering "Wine and Dine" in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) has been taken to connect people coming for business socially.
"People from the country and the world come here for business. It becomes essential to match with their lifestyle... To connect with them socially, this decision has been taken..." the minister told ANI.
He further said, "When the PM laid the foundation of the GIFT city in Gujarat, he had a lot of ideas and he wanted Gujarat to emerge as the economic capital... The GIFT city also expanded a lot. Because of the expansion, a lot of various sectors are developing in the GIFT city." (ANI)