HC raises environmental concerns on destruction of seized liquor, flags use of minors in smuggling

It is not just the consumption of liquor that is hazardous to health, so is the destruction of illicit liquor seized by the authorities without assessing environmental impact in the vicinity, the Patna high court has said while also deploring the involvement of minors and vehicles with fake number plates in smuggling of liquor.

It is not just the consumption of liquor that is hazardous to health, so is the destruction of illicit liquor seized by the authorities without assessing environmental impact in the vicinity, the Patna High Court has said while also deploring the involvement of minors and vehicles with fake number plates in smuggling of liquor.

Seized liquor being destroyed in Patna. (HT Photo)

“It is the persons lower in the hierarchy of organised gangs who are arrested and also released due to action taken by white collar operators/gang leaders. Such loopholes have led to flourishing of the illicit trade of liquor in dry Bihar for want of framing rules/prescribing procedure/mechanism to check the method or operation to stop the organized trade of illicit liquor,” the bench of Justice Purnendu Singh said, adding illicit liquor has further impacted the life of the people at large in whose vicinity liquor stocks are destroyed.

“The percolation of the liquor has caused contamination of water table. The chemical composition of the liquor has affected the micro organism found in the soil, leading to infertility of soil. Such contaminated water has further affected the general health of the people in the said vicinity,” it said, while seeking report from the chairman of the Bihar State Pollution Control Board, Dr Ashok Ghosh, after scientific assessment of the areas where the seized liquor is being destroyed by the state authorities in accordance with provisions of Water/Air Pollution Act, 1981.

“... A complete report in this regard is expected to be submitted by Dr Ghosh, who is an acclaimed scientist, to the state government as well as before this Court,” the court said. The matter will be next heard next week.

The observations came during hearing of a prohibition-related case in which a heavy vehicle loaded with liquor bottles seized by the police was found to have two owners in records — one on the basis of the registration number and another on the basis of the engine number — and none of them claimed it, raising suspicion about use of fake number plates in vehicles carrying illicit liquor.

The court sought proper action taken report from the commissioner (commercial taxes), commissioner (prohibition and excise) as well as the state transport commissioner, and asked for specific information regarding the real owner of the vehicle on the basis of the report submitted by the two district transport officers, as the driver of the vehicle pleaded innocence that he had no knowledge about the illicit liquor loaded on the vehicle.

Maintaining that a bottle of alcohol fetches two to three times its normal price in Bihar, which is under prohibition, the bench said the very purpose of engaging minors is that they will face trial in a juvenile court and escape within months and the smugglers take advantage of luring minors in such illicit trade of liquor.