Women to serve liquor at 21 yrs

Women in Delhi can now serve liquor in bars and pubs. The Delhi government on Monday enacted a new act —Delhi Excise Act 2010 — that allows women to work in bars and pubs and serve liquor to customers.

Women in Delhi can now serve liquor in bars and pubs. The Delhi government on Monday enacted a new act —Delhi Excise Act 2010 — that allows women to work in bars and pubs and serve liquor to customers.

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The new act has also lowered the minimum age to serve liquor in bars from 25 years to 21 years. But the minimum age to consume liquor continues to be 25.

Delhi Excise Act 2010 has replaced the old and outdated Punjab Excise Act of 1914, which so far governed excise rules in Delhi.

The new act has opened yet another avenue for young men and women to make a different career choice.

In December 2007, the Supreme Court had passed an order allowing women to work as bartenders and had also removed the bar on employing anybody below the age of 25 years in any restaurant across Delhi.

Senior excise officials accepted that necessary amendments should have been made in the act immediately after the SC order but it was never done.

Delhi excise minister Ashok Kumar Walia said the Supreme Court ruling has been formally incorporated in the Delhi Excise Act. But he clarified that there has been no change in the minimum age to consume liquor in a bar or a pub in Delhi.
The new act has also made changes in the amount of liquor a family can keep in their house. Under the old Punjab Excise Act, a household could store 18 bulk litres of hard liquor (like whiskey, rum or vodka).

The new act has linked the limit of possessing liquor with the number of members in the family.

While an individual can keep 9 litres of hard liquor, a family of five adults can possess and store 45 litres, Walia added.
The new act also has some strict provisions to check sale of spurious liquor, smuggling of liquor from other states to Delhi and consumption of liquor in public.