Supreme Court to hear PIL for mandatory age-check at liquor shops

The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Central government as well as all States and Union Territories (UTs) to a plea calling for effective and mandatory age-checks at liquor shops [Community Against Drunken Driving v. Union of India and Others]..The public interest litigation (PIL) plea has been filed by a non-profit organization named Community Against Drunken Driving (CADD) through its founder and social-activist, Prince Singhal. The petitioner's counsel, Senior Advocate PB Suresh and Advocate-on-Record (AOR) Vipin Nair, today highlighted before a Bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan that nowadays, younger children are freely buying liquor without any restrictions at all. Counsel went on to highlight that in countries where there is a higher (older)-age limit for buying liquor, crime rates are low..The Court, in response, lamented that not much can be done to practically prevent underage drinking as minors can always have their domestic help or other adult persons buy the liquor for them."What can we do? They can - instead of going directly to buy - send their servants to buy," said Justice Gavai.CADD's counsel however, requested the Court to make the current restrictions stricter.The Court eventually issued notice in the matter and asked the Central government and all States and UTs to file their response to the plea, which calls for the strict enforcement of rules to prevent underage drinking..The petitioner has sought directions for the implementation of a robust policy for establishing a mandatory age verification system at all points of alcohol sale to curb rising incidents of drunken-driving across the country.The plea also highlighted the lack of any legal framework or concrete mechanism for checking or verifying the age of an individual who either buys alcohol from a bar, pub or restaurant or directly from a liquor shop. The plea states that due to this, numerous fatal accidents that involve minors driving under the influence of alcohol are on the rise..[Live Courtroom Exchange]