Delhi HC on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the minimum prescribed age for drinking liquor in the city & said it is a policy decision by the govt where it won’t interfere.
The court further pointed out that there is a “wrong notion” that minimum prescribed age for drinking liquor is 25 years in the capital & clarified that Delhi Excise Act only prohibits sale of alcohol to people below that age.
With these observations, the court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking to set aside & quash Section 23 of Delhi Excise Act, 2009 on the ground that it prescribes 25 years as legal age for buying & drinking alcohol in Delhi.
“The petitioner has assumed that it is the age of drinking fixed at 25 years but what is prohibited has nothing to do with drinking age, it is a prohibition on the licensee to serve & deliver alcohol... We see no reason to quash Section 23 of the Act that prohibits a licensee to sell or deliver liquor to a person of less than 25 years of age,” remarked a bench of CJ D N Patel & C Hari Shankar.
Dismissing the plea, the court said that even otherwise it is a “policy decision” & the court wouldn't like to intervene.
Earlier, the Delhi govt through standing counsel Ramesh Singh had defended the age limit & argued that every state can have their own policy as potable liquor is a state subject. He had maintained that age-based classification for alcohol consumption is a valid one & in public interest.
The court was hearing a plea filed by lawyer Kush Kalra in which he also sought to know as to what steps the Delhi govt has taken towards prohibiting & regulating the sale & supply of alcohol to persons under the age of 25 years in the Delhi.
Regarding the submission of the petitioner's counsel that the legal age to drink alcohol in UP, Goa, Telangana & Jharkhand was 21, & in Rajasthan, Sikkim & Puducherry it was 18, the bench said it isn't obligatory for the state of Delhi to follow what is prescribed by the law of other states.
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