Chandigarh excise dept shuts down bars at CITCO hotels over lack of fire NOCs

The UT excise and taxation department on Thursday asked all flagship hotels of the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation Limited (CITCO) to shut down their bars till further orders.

The order came a day after media reports highlighted that CITCO’s hotels had been managing to obtain bar licences annually despite lacking the mandatory fire safety certificates since 2017.

Since 2017, CITCO’s flagship hotels — Mountview in Sector 10, Shivalikview in Sector 17, and Parkview in Sector 24 — along with the renowned Chef Lakeview restaurant at Sukhna Lake have continually secured bar licences annually.

However, throughout the same seven-year period, they consistently failed to obtain the crucial fire no-objection certificate (NOC) regarding provision of fire safety equipment on their premises, indicating persistent disregard towards safety of customers and staff alike.

Mandated by the National Building Code (NBC), 2016, the fire NOC is to be renewed every three years.

But CITCO’s facilities have managed to circumvent this requirement, merely providing undertakings that they have applied for the NOC, while fire safety measures remain inadequate.

For financial year 2024-25 as well, Hotel Shivalikview and Hotel Parkview have already deposited ₹20.75 lakh each for bar licences, which they are yet to get. Hotel Mountview has also submitted ₹21.75 lakh.

A senior officer of CITCO said all bars of the hotels had been closed after the directions from the excise department. “We have already paid the liquor licence fee for financial year 2024-25. We are also hopeful of getting the fire safety certificate,” he said.

An excise officer said directions had been given to all hotels of CITCO to keep their bars closed until they get the fire safety NOC. “We are not going to issue them the bar licence till they meet all the fire safety norms and obtain the NOC,” the officer added.

Earlier, on April 1, the UT excise and taxation department had decided not to renew the bar licences of five prominent clubs in Chandigarh after several discrepancies were found on their premises. Among these five clubs are Chandigarh Club, Chandigarh Golf Club, CGA Golf Range, Lake Club at Sukhna Lake and Central Club in Sector 9. Under the Excise Act, the bar licence is renewed every year as the annual excise policy kicks in from April 1.