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PATNA: While the government has already taken the ordinance route to relax the stringent provisions of the Prohibition and Excise Act (2016) to jettison the burden on the courts that has arisen from the prohibition-related cases, it circulated copies of the relevant Bihar Prohibition and Excise Amendment (BPEA) Bill, 2022, among the lawmakers on Thursday to prepare them for the House debate on it.
By the time the BPEA Bill, 2022, comes in the House for its passage, the lawmakers concerned can submit their proposed amendments to the Bill.
The state government was goaded to relax the liquor law as the Supreme Court had made an adverse observation on the Act a couple of months ago, noting that prohibition has brought an additional burden on the courts.
The BPEA Bill (2022) has defined several other steps related to the relaxed rules – like on the arrest of the repeat offender, investigation of the case, imposition of the fine and arrest, circumstances in which the order to release the accused could be taken, seizure of the liquor and intoxicant and also its destruction.
In the cases of the repeat offenders, the person will be arrested and the government, in turn, will notify the additional fine and the quantum of punishment to be given, or both. The provisions of BPEA Bill, 2022, refer to the circumstances on the arrest of a person who has consumed or is found to be in possession of liquor or any intoxicant, fine and quantum of punishment to be imposed on the person, the circumstances of his release and destruction of the seized object (liquor or any other intoxicant).
While the case of the arrested person will not go to the court, the executive magistrate deputed by the DM of a district will take the call on all the decisions, except in the case of the seizures of the items, which will be in the jurisdiction of the DM.