Guwahati, Dec. 14: A joint drive conducted by Kamrup (metro) district administration, excise and police here last night found many bars open beyond permissible time in violation of their permit conditions.

According to the rule, all bars and liquor shops in the city must close by 10pm.

“But during our drive last night, we found that as many as six bar-cum-restaurants were open and serving liquor beyond the permissible time limit, some of them were keeping open till midnight,” an official source said.

“The district administration will issue showcause notices to these bars for violating their permit conditions and they may even face temporary suspension of their bar licences,” he said.

He said the bar-cum-restaurants or pubs that will be showcaused are Café Hendrix near Down Town Hospital, Terra Mayaa on GS Road, Ozone at Christian Basti, Kitchen bar-cum-restaurant at Zoo Road Tiniali, Regal Club at New Guwahati and XS at Anil Plaza II on GS Road.

“In case of XS, it did not have a permanent liquor licence. It was issued only a temporary licence for two days — December 13 and 14 — to sell liquor till 10pm, which it had violated,” the official alleged.

The team of officers was led by additional deputy commissioner, Kamrup (metro), Rajib Prakash Baruah.

The team visited almost all the bars and pubs in the city between 10pm and 2am. The drive was carried out on the orders of Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner M. Angamuthu, keeping in view the festive season, which includes Christmas, New Year and Magh Bihu.

There were also complaints against some bars and pubs of keeping open beyond permissible time and serving liquor to youths below 21 years of age.

According to records of the excise department, there are 133 bars and 303 liquor shops in the greater Guwahati area.

“The district administration has stepped up vigil as the New Year and other celebrations are approaching. Last night’s drive was a part of that exercise,” he said.

According to him, this drive will continue till January.

“The police and civil administration basically wants to prevent any unsavoury incident like the one on GS Road in July 2012, which had tarnished the city’s image,” the source said.

In that incident, a mob had assaulted a young girl coming out of a bar at Christian Basti on GS Road as a TV crew filmed and later beamed the entire incident.

The police and administration had drawn flak from various quarters for the incident.