Haryana: Bill passed in Assembly to lower drinking age to 21

In Haryana, people who are 21 years old or above can now, purchase, sell or consume liquor as the state government amended its Excise Act reducing the age limit from 25 years to 21 years. An Amendment Bill in this regard was passed in the Vidhan Sabha on the concluding day of the winter session, today.

Section 27 of the Haryana Excise Act, 1914 provides that the lease for manufacturing, wholesale or retail of any country liquor or intoxicating drug may be granted by the government to any man above 25 years. Section 29 prohibits any licensed vendor to sell liquor to anyone under 25. Section 30 provides that noone under 25 years may be employed to sell liquor. Further, Section 62 states that if a licensed vendor sells liquor anyone under 25 years, thye may be fined with a sum that may extend upto Rs 50,000.

Giving rationale for this amendment, the government said, that the age may be brought down “as many of the other states have prescribed lower age limits.” Recently, Delhi has also reduced this age limit to 21 years. “Moreover, the socio economic conditions of the day have changed drastically from the time when the above provisions were incorporated in the Excise Act. The people now are more educated and also take rational decisions when it comes to responsible drinking,” the spokesperson stated.

Other five Bills that were passed, include The Haryana Management of Civic Amenities and Infrastructure Deficient Areas outside Municipal Area (Special Provisions) Bill, 2021, The Haryana Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2021, The Panchkula Metropolitan Devel- opment Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021, The Haryana Agriculture Produce Markets (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and The Haryana Appropriation (No. 4) Bill, 2021.

The five other Bills
The Haryana Management of Civic Amenities and Infrastructure Deficient Areas outside Municipal Area (Special Provisions) Bill, 2021, was passed to make special provisions for providing essential services in civic amenities and infrastructure deficient areas outside municipal area in the state of Haryana and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto. The Haryana Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2021, was passed primarily to make express statutory provisions to clarify the provisions of Section 12C the Act from 1963 and validate various actions taken against Panchkula Metropolitan Develop- ment Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021, now replaces the word and sign of Divisional Commissioner, Panchkula with Ambala.

On the fourth Bill, it was stated that, “It would be appropriate to summarise that the Haryana Agricultural Produce Markets (Amendment) Bill, 2021 intends to achieve the object of “ease of doing business” in big way and would also provide remunerative prices to farmers due to healthy competition amongst the dealers”. The Haryana Appropriation (No. 4) Bill, 2021 was passed in pursuance of articles 204 (1) and 205 to provide for the appropriation of Rs 7312,66,09,000 out of the consolidated fund of Haryana for services during the financial year ending on March 31, 2022.