First-time violators of liquor law in Bihar can skip jail for a fine

Days after amendments to the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, were cleared by the state legislature, the state cabinet has approved a set of rules to relax penal action against the offenders, officials said.

Days after amendments to the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, were cleared by the state legislature, the state cabinet has approved a set of rules to relax penal action against the offenders, officials said.

Liquor bottles being destroyed in Patna. (HT Photo)

As proposed by the state excise department, those caught taking liquor or in an inebriated state for the first time would be let off on payment of fine up to ₹5,000, instead of being sent to judicial custody.

This was among 14 decisions approved by the state cabinet at its meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday late evening.

Briefing reporters, additional chief secretary, cabinet, Sanjay Kumar, said those caught taking liquor in Bihar for the first time would be released on fine in the range of ₹2,000-5,000, as decided by the executive magistrates.

“However, those caught in drunken state for the next time are liable for the jail term of one year,” said Kumar.

The offenders would be detected with the help of computer applications based on biometric samples. The violators of the law have to be produced before the executive magistrate within 24 hours of their arrest. Those who fail to deposit the penalty will have to undergo simple jail term for a period of one month.

The amendments diluting some stringent provisions in the law have come in the wake of strong criticism by the Supreme Court, which had observed that the law lacked foresightedness and the state government had not raised the necessary legal set-up to handle the burgeoning load of criminal cases as a fallout of the prohibition act.

In another important decision, the Cabinet cleared a proposal to hike dearness allowance of the government officers and staff by 3%. Those who are getting pay as per the 7th pay panel recommendations are entitled to the enhanced DA, which would increase to 34% of the basic against the existing slab of 31%. The state government will have to incur additional burden of ₹1,133 crore because of the hike.

As announced by deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad, the cabinet has given post facto sanction to waiver of the state goods and services tax (GST) on purchase of cinema hall tickets to watch the movie “The Kashmir Files”. The GST on tickets would exempted with effect from March 16 and the cinema hall/multiplex owners would be reimbursed the GST amount accordingly.