The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought response of the Delhi government on a plea to put in place a robust mechanism for mandatory age check at liquor shops and bars with government identity cards on the ground that reduction of drinking age from 25 to 21 years will lead to increase in underage drinking, drunken driving and road rage. The plea was opposed by the Delhi government which said the decision to reduce the minimum age for consuming alcohol has no connection with the offence of drunken driving.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to the Delhi government which sought to respond to the plea and listed the matter for further hearing on September 17. The plea also sought to restrain the Delhi government from giving effect to the new Excise Policy 2021-22 which reduced the age of consuming alcohol from 25 to 21 years until a robust age verification mechanism is put in place.
The plea filed by an organisation, Community Against Drunken Driving, through activist Prince Singhal, sought mandatory age check at places selling and serving alcohol including bars, pubs, liquor vends and any food and beverage outlet. Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Rahul Mehra, representing the Delhi government, contended that this was an attempt to stall the policy under one pretext or the other.
Today the age of voting is 18. To suggest that people above 18 can vote but cannot drink is to live in ivory towers. Just because you permit people to drink once they reach the age of 18 does not mean that you permit drunken driving. Even a 50-year-old person is not allowed to drink and drive according to the law, Singhvi contended. Mehra also said that in any case, drunken driving is not permissible under the law so whether the minimum age of drinking is 25 or 21, it does not matter.
He further said that in the neighbouring states of Delhi, the minimum age of drinking is 21 years. The plea said that this reduction in drinking age might lead to an increase in underage drinking, drunken driving and road rage incidents.
The petitioner claimed that the PIL was filed after the Delhi government failed to take action on the previous petition filed by him in 2017 where the court had directed the state to form a policy on age checking at alcohol points of sale. Since the Delhi government introduced the new excise policy and liberalised the alcohol policy bringing down the legal drinking age and increasing alcohol availability making the alcohol policy almost at par with countries in the west, it has become even more pertinent to strictly monitor age of consumer as is done in the western nations, he said.
The plea said the age verification mechanism shall be done with the help of matching it with government issued identity cards like Aadhaar and voter card. It also sought that the Delhi government be restrained from giving effect to the recent amendment made in the Excise Rules which permit the door step delivery of liquor until a robust age verification mechanism is instituted even for door delivery.
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