Delhi rewrites liquor coverage, cuts authorized consuming age from 25 to 21

SIGNALLING KEY adjustments within the Delhi authorities’s liquor coverage, AAP chief and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia stated Monday that the authorized age for consumption of alcohol can be decreased to 21 years from 25 — “on a par”, he identified, with neighbouring BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh.
Sisodia additionally introduced “age gating”, a system by which these beneath the age of 21 is not going to be allowed to enter institutions, together with eating places, that serve alcohol except they’re “supervised”. Officials stated guidelines “can be finalised quickly to resolve who, apart from dad and mom, can be allowed to oversee them.

“The permissible age for liquor consumption in different states is different and this issue has been raised several times. It is higher in Delhi as compared to that in Uttar Pradesh. The Group of Ministers recommended that the age of liquor consumption be brought on a par with Uttar Pradesh,” Sisodia stated.

Sources stated the reference to UP was “deliberate” to keep away from “unnecessary criticism by BJP”.
Sisodia stated the brand new coverage is predicated on about 14,700 feedback obtained as suggestions to the draft coverage ready by an skilled group final 12 months and put up on-line. Consultations had been subsequently held by a Group of Ministers, which offered its closing suggestions to the Cabinet Monday. Experts stated it’s going to take as much as three months to inform the brand new coverage.

Senior authorities officers informed The Indian Express that the Delhi Excise Act should be amended to vary the authorized consuming age to 21. At current, the Act states: “No person or licensed vendor or his employee or agent shall sell or deliver any liquor to any person apparently under the age of 25 years, whether for consumption by self or others.”
A lower in authorized consuming age has been within the works in Delhi for a number of years, with coverage specialists stating that the upper restrict isn’t applied and solely results in harassment.