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Karnataka state excise department has already served notice to all bar owners to relocate their bars to places 500 meter away from the national and state highways in Karnataka. The excise department has also decided not to renew the permits of bars those who fail to relocate their bars from the highways.
Meanwhile, Karnataka state government, earlier filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a review on its previous order on bars located near highways. The court is expected to hear the appeal in the second week of July 2017. The sate government has also requested the union government to denotify national and state highways in Karnataka as local roads to avoid closure of bars. However, the centre hasn’t responded to the request made by the state. As of now, Karnataka state has 854 kilometer long national highway and as many as 1500 bars have been shutdown last night.
As many as 3000 bars near state highways in urban areas of the state have relived from their closure after Karnataka government converted state high ways as local roads releasing an order. However, in rural areas all bars which fall under panchayat zone should be shutdown as per the Apex Court order.