Kerala govt scraps bakery’s new ‘horti-wine’ licence, transfers excise officer

Keralam excise minister M Liju on Sunday revoked a licence to a bakery in Thrissur to sell ‘horti-wine’, an alcoholic beverage produced from local fruits with an alcohol content of 15.5%, and shunted out the official who had issued the order.

The minister said the licence was permissible under excise rules made by the previous Pinarayi Vijayan-led government but should not have been granted since the United Democratic Front (UDF) government was in the process of finalising its policy.

“It was during the previous LDF government that excise rules were amended allowing the supply of horti-wine from outlets other than that of BEVCO (state-run Kerala State Beverages (M&M) Corporation Limited). The order incidentally was issued two days after the excise commissioner took charge. Though the order doesn’t technically need to be sanctioned by the minister, I should have been informed,” he Liju told reporters on Sunday.

He said the officer who issued the order, CK Anil Kumar, has been transferred out and kept on compulsory wait. The minister stressed that while the excise official’s order adhered to the rules amended during the previous government, it should not have been issued at a time when the current administration was reworking the liquor policy.

The previous LDF government formulated the Kerala Small Scale Winery Rules in 2022 to encourage production of wine from substances other than food grains, and chiefly from fruits.

The ‘horti-wine’ was designed primarily to boost earnings of farmers growing fruits, particularly pineapple, mango, banana and jackfruit. The amended rules would allow bakeries to buy ‘horti-wine’ from BEVCO warehouses and sell it when demand peaks, such as the Christmas-New Year season.

MB Rajesh, CPI(M) leader and former excise minister, said his government amended the rules but did not sanction licences in view of social sensitivities. “We amended the rules for horti-wine to help our farmers. If the UDF plans to revoke the order, then the farmers will react to it,” he said.