Planning House Party With Liquor On New Year's Eve In Noida? Do This Or Face Legal Action

Throwing a party this New Year's Eve is going to prove mightily expensive for Noida residents. Failing to follow these regulations could land you in jail. Read on to know more.

As the year comes to an end, people are getting into party mode to celebrate Christmas and New Year 2024. However, if you plan to throw a party at home or at a community hall and serve liquor in Noida or Greater Noida, you need to apply for an occasional bar licence to avoid legal action,

Gautam Buddh Nagar, District Excise Officer (DEO), Subodh Kumar Srivastava, told news agency PTI that not having a liquor licence for parties even at the home was a violation of rules and it could attract legal proceedings, including fine and arrest. 

Authorities have now started reaching out to Residents' Welfare Associations (RWAs) as well as citizens to address the poor awareness of the public regarding excise-related rules. The authorities are encouraging them to procure an occasional bar licence. 

Srivastava told PTI, "If anyone is serving liquor without a licence, whether it is liquor meant for sale in Uttar Pradesh or outside the state, it is totally illegal. It will attract action (from the excise department)."

There are two categories under which these occasional licences are issued and the category will be decided on the basis of the gathering size. If the gathering size is low, such as at house parties, then a licence will be issued against a fee of Rs 4,000.

However, if the gathering size is big, such as at community halls or banquets, then the licence will be issued against a fee of Rs 11,000. These licences will be valid for one day and they will only be issued if the liquor that you have purchased is procured from within Uttar Pradesh. If you purchase alcohol from Delhi or Haryana, then you won't be issued a licence. 

You can apply for these on the website Upexciseportal.in under the category of useful public services. 

While talking about the number of licences issued in 2022, Srivastava said 5,820 such licences were issued last year from April 1 to November 30. He added that 8,770 were issued this year from April 1 to November 30, an increase of 40 per cent, PTI reported. 

PTI quoted him as saying, "The department issued 900 occasional bar licences in November alone, which is the highest in recent times for a single month. This also led to huge revenue earning for the government."

While elaborating on the advantages, he said, "First, when you take a licence, it will ensure that the liquor served in a party would be authentic and not illicit. This will also make sure that the applicant buys liquor locally which is meant for consumption only within the state and is not procured from other states, which would cause a revenue loss to the government."

When PTI asked him about how excise officials would come to know if liquor was being served at someone's home, the DEO said the excise department had a widespread network of informers across the district and the department also gets information from liquor vends and outlets in case they notice abnormally high sales.

He further said that a helpline number 8882120733 has also been issued for residents so that they could share information on the consumption of illegal narcotics or drugs, or any other tip-off related to liquor use.

He said, "Moreover, sometimes neighbours get annoyed and raise an alarm about nuisance at such parties which leads to offenders landing in the excise net," as reported by PTI.