Bihar liquor ban: Govt moves SC against Patna HC's order; new policy also challenged

A day after launching a new policy on liquor with harsher provisions, the Bihar government on Monday moved Supreme court against the Patna High Court order quashing the state government's April 5 order on prohibition, describing it as ultra vires of Constitution.

The unfazed state government took the step of approaching Supreme Court, after it came out with a new law banning liquor with more harsh provisions like the arrest of all adults in the event of recovery of the contraband in their house on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

The government notified the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 to ensure that the ban on sale and consumption of alcohol including Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) as well spiced and domestic liquor continued in the state.

However, the new policy of the state government has also been challenged. ANI reported that the new liquor policy of the Bihar government was being challenged in the High Court by a former professor of Patna University who has filed an RTI.

CM Nitish Kumar had on Sunday said that the new liquor law would be a real tribute to the Father of the Nation when the state is readying to observe the centenary celebration of Gandhiji's Champaran Satyagraha against British rule from the state in early 2017. The new liquor law came into force in Bihar barely two days after the Patna High Court had on Friday quashed its April 5 notification.