Patna: The Patna High Court on Friday quashed the Bihar government’s order imposing total prohibition in the state, terming it as “illegal”. The incident has come as a major setback to the ruling Nitish Kumar government in the state which has widely publicised it as the “revolutionary step” of the state government and asked other Indian states to follow suit.
The court passed the order while hearing a bunch of petitions filed by various organisations which had termed the state government’s new prohibition law as “draconian” and sought for amendments.
A division bench comprising chief justice Iqbal Ahmad Ansari and Navniti Prasad Singh struck down the government’s order saying it is ultra vires to the Constitution.
The ruling Nitish Kumar government in Bihar had imposed a total ban on sale and consumption and manufacture of liquor in April this year after a new excise and prohibition bill was passed by both Houses of the Bihar state assembly. Initially, the government had imposed a total ban on county-made liquor but soon later, it also put a blanket ban on all kinds of liquor.
Earlier this month, Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent for the new Prohibition and Excise Bill about a month after it was sent to him for approval.
The new law had provisions for arrest of the persons under non-bailable sections once caught possessing or consuming liquor, community fine on the entire village, arrest of the entire adult family members if caught with liquor bottles at home and cancellation of all government licences once found guilty of violating the laws.
It also had provisions for death sentence to the accused persons in case of death due to consumption of spurious liquor or life sentence plus a penalty of Rs1 million.
