High Court cancels permission for Elappully brewery

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has cancelled the preliminary permission granted by the state government for setting up a brewery at Elappully in Palakkad. The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising Justice Sathish Ninan and Justice P Krishnakumar while considering a public interest litigation, which stated that establishing the plant in the water-scarce Elappully area would make life difficult for local residents. The court clarified that the judgment does not prevent the company from submitting a fresh application with detailed information, which can be considered separately.

The High Court also observed that the arguments put forward by the government were not factually correct. While permission was obtained stating that the plant would be set up in the Kanjikode industrial area, the petitioners pointed out that the company actually planned to establish the unit in Elappully panchayat, which is about five kilometres away. The court accepted this argument.

The company had sought permission to set up a 500 kilolitre (KL) ethanol-cum-multifeed distillation unit, along with a bottling unit and a brewery. The state government had approved the application after the Excise Commissioner recommended it on February 6, 2024. The court said that under the Abkari rules, the Excise Commissioner must seek prior approval from the government before allowing the establishment of distilleries and breweries. It also noted that the recommendation made by the Commissioner to the government, based on the company’s application dated November 30, 2023, should be treated only as a request for prior approval.

Senior advocate MR Hariraj, along with advocates Thomas Jacob and PS Biju, appeared for the petitioners.