Drinking liquor not a right: Bihar government

NEW DELHI: The Nitish Kumar government on Monday challenged in the Supreme Court a Patna High Court order which had struck down its move to introduce prohibition as unconstitutional, arguing that drinking liquor is not a fundamental right of citizens and that the state is within its rights to impose a total ban on its distribution and consumption.

The appeal, mentioned before a bench led by the Chief Justice TS Thakur, will be heard on October 7.

The Bihar government, in its appeal filed through advocate Keshav Mohan, argued that the September 30 high court ruling frustrated its attempts to introduce total prohibition mandated by the directive principles of state policy enshrined in the Constitution.

“The ban on liquor is a deterrent and consumption of liquor in Bihar is in the public interest and appreciated by a large number of people especially women whose families are hard done by the consumption of liquor which drains family incomes, entails debts and is ruinous to health,” it said.

The high court, in its ruling, had also struck down the penal provisions brought in to give effect to its prohibition policy.

The government fears that in absence of such provisions which allow the state to confiscate properties of those selling liquor in violation of policy, the new prohibition law, which kicked in just two days after the high court ruling, would also become useless.

Vehemently contesting the rationale of the high court ruling – that an individual has a fundamental right to drink liquor under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution – the state government pointed out that the directive principles mandate the government to work towards prohibition.