Bihar: Day after HC scrapped booze ban, Nitish introduces new liquor policy in state

New Delhi: The unfazed Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar has introduced another liquor law on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, a day after Patna HC scrapped Bihar government's former prohibition law. Addressing a press conference, Bihar CM said-"Now people are not wasting money on alcohol like before". That money was being used in better ways and financial situation improving, he added. It is pertinent to mention here that a day before the Patna high court had scrapped the Bihar government's prohibition law, terming it was "draconian" and said, "can't be justified in a civilised society". But hours later, a high-level meeting called by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar decided to summon the state Cabinet on October 2 to ratify a notification on an amended liquor law for continuation of prohibition. The meeting also deliberated on the option to knock on the doors of the Supreme Court against the High Court order, quashing the April 5 notification on liquor ban, saying it was ultra vires to the Constitution. In a judgment, a bench of Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh quashed the April 5 notification of the state government banning consumption and sale of alcohol in the state. The April 5 notification is ultra vires to the Constitution and hence, not enforceable, the court said. The same bench had, on May 20, reserved its order on a batch of writ petitions filed by Liquor Trade Association and numerous individuals, challenging the liquor law in Bihar brought by the Nitish Kumar government with stringent penal provisions. The Grand Secular Alliance government had first banned manufacture, trade, sale and consumption of country-made liquor since April 1 but later, imposed a blanket ban on all types of liquor, including foreign liquor, in the state.