Bangalore: Weekend pub-goers walked into an unfamiliar ambience on Friday as most watering holes had switched off the music and unplugged live bands that usually keep guzzlers entertained.
The unusual scenario at Bangalore's bars was the result of a Supreme Court order upholding a 2005 Karnataka government rule that makes a licence mandatory to play music at pubs, many of which are located in residential areas in Indira Nagar and Koramangala.
The Karnataka government has begun implementing the Licencing and Controlling of Places of Public Entertainment (Bangalore City) Order, 2005, which makes a host of permits mandatory to run pubs and also lays down certain rules.
The order could not be implemented for so long as the city's pub owners had moved the high court and the Supreme Court. In January this year, the apex court upheld the Karnataka government order.
After coming to power, the H.D. Kumaraswamy government has decided to implement the order strictly and as the first step has cracked down on music played in pubs.
Government sources said the pubs would lose their appeal without music and so the administration hoped the watering holes would apply for the licence and other permits.
The once-serene residential areas of late resemble busy bazaars with milling crowds at pubs and fervently honking motorists contributing to traffic snarls. Drunken brawls have also become common, residents said.
Indira Nagar alone has around 150 pubs, restaurants and cafeterias. By one estimate Bangalore city has 1,000 pubs and bars.
But this Friday night was different as there were fewer people and cars, and no late-night deep-bass thumps of electronic dance music that usually keep residents awake till the 1am deadline to close pubs on weekends.
While residents had a good night's sleep, pub owners were unhappy as the footfall had fallen.
"Who would want to go to a pub without music?" said Jimmy Kuruvilla, executive director of Pecos Hotels and Pubs Ltd that runs four pubs in the city. "Our earnings have been hit badly," he told The Telegraph on Saturday.
One of the pioneers of the pub business in the city, Pecos is still the favourite joint for old-time Bangaloreans who don't settle for anything less than retro Rock for in-house music.
"Yes, we did get a notice from Bangalore police asking us to stop playing music from Friday and apply for a licence," Kuruvilla said.
He claimed the 2005 government order had unfairly clubbed pubs with discotheques and non-existent cabarets.
City police commissioner T. Suneel Kumar clarified that licence is a must to play music at any public place according to the Licencing and Controlling of Places of Public Entertainment (Bangalore City) Order, 2005. "We will issue the licence once they furnish all the documents," he said.
Pub owners need to submit the building plan sanctioned by the civic body - the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike - the occupancy certificate and no-objection certificates from the fire and emergency services and the electrical inspectorate to obtain the licence to play music.
But the larger question that Raj Kumar Pillai from iChangeIndiranagar, a consortium of eight residents' welfare associations, had is that how did the pubs continue playing music without licence for so long.
"Licencing norms for music requires certain documents. It's clear most of them don't have them. So how are these people operating without proper clearances?" Pillai asked.