Women may now be employed in Kerala's toddy shops after the High Court voids a 2002 rule

28 October 2026

A single judge of the Kerala High Court, Justice P. Gopinath, has removed the bar that kept women out of every job in a toddy shop in the State. The bar sat in Rule 7(37) of a 2002 set of excise rules, the Kerala Abkari Shops Disposal Rules. The judge found the provision cannot survive Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21, and he followed what the Supreme Court had said in Anuj Garg v. Hotel Association of India about so-called protective bans on women's work. Keeping a workplace safe is the government's job, the Court said; shutting women out of a trade they wish to enter is not. The decision is carried in the law reports as 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 606.