Supreme Court notice to Centre on plea for mandatory age verification for alcohol sale

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a plea seeking directions to implement a robust policy for establishing a mandatory age verification system at all points of alcohol sale, creating a uniform framework for alcohol regulation across states, and reducing and preventing the increasing menace of drunken driving.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Vishwanathan sought a response from the Centre to the PIL filed by Delhi-based Community Against Drunken Driving (CADD), a non-governmental organisation that has been working for 23 years in preventing alcohol-related tragedies.

The PIL petitioner was represented by senior advocate P B Suresh, advocate Vipin Nair.

The petition highlighted the stark disparity in legal drinking age across different states in India.

While Goa permits alcohol consumption from the age of 18, Delhi maintains a higher threshold at 25 years. This variation extends to other states as well - Maharashtra prescribes 25 years, while Karnataka and Tamil Nadu allow drinking at 18.

The plea also drew the court's attention to the correlation between underage drinking and criminal behaviour.

According to studies cited in the PIL, early exposure to alcohol significantly increased the risk of violent offences including robbery, sexual assault, and homicide.

It also referred to the recent Pune car accident case where the lives of two young individuals were taken away by a minor driving under the influence of alcohol.

The petition emphasised that approximately 42.3 per cent of boys in the age group of 18-25 years had their first alcoholic drink before turning 18, and 90 per cent of them could freely procure alcohol from vendors without any age verification.

It also pointed out the conviction rate for drunken driving remains negligible. "The offence of drunken driving being bailable, the offenders are almost immediately released on bail. To compound matters, underage drunken driving is now not an uncommon phenomenon. Incidents of underage drunken driving have also been widely covered by the press," it said.

As per research and statistics collected by the petitioner organisation, drunken driving is the cause for more than 70 per cent road accidents, resulting in more than 1,00,000 road deaths annually across India. "This figure continues to rise every year. The petitioner believes that a lot of young people might take disadvantage of this policy and the same is matter of grave concern," it said.

The plea also stated under Article 47 of the Constitution, the State owes a duty to make endeavour to bring about prohibition and that consumption of alcohol by a person can never be regarded as his fundamental right nor can it be said that the right to consume alcohol can be merely regulated and not prohibited.