Do you have the liquor licence to booze at a bar?

Before you sit for a booze party with friends in a watering hole ensure that you have the licence to drink. Maharashtra is the only state in the country where you need a licence for purchase, possession, transport and consumption of liquor. Here's how & why you should get a licence to drink

With cricket mania gripping the city, meeting with friends over drinks might just be the perfect idea to catch all the action on and off the field.

But before you make your parched throat moist with a swig of beer, you must ensure that you have the licence to drink as Maharashtra is the only state in the country wherein a person needs a permit to booze.

While several sports bars, pubs and restaurants are cashing in on the cricket mania, you as a consumer need to know the law of drinking. So the next time when a cop walks up to your table and threatens legal action, you could proudly show him your "peenay ka licence".

And if you thought you could party at home sans the prized permit, think again. For, transporting the alcohol bottles on the local train is illegal as the substance is "inflammable".

Anticipating that the police would harass their consumers, a few wine shops have even put up notices at the counters, cautioning people and telling them about the liquor law.

Under the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949, in Maharashtra, a person requires to possess a permit for purchase, possession, transport and consumption of liquor.

Any person above the age of 25 years can apply for a permit.

The sections in the Act empower the police to arrest anyone for consuming or buying alcohol in a restaurant or a store without the permit.

The liquor permits are issued under Rule 70-D of the Bombay Foreign Liquor Rules, 1953.

"According to the law, every person consuming alcohol should possess the permit," said M S Varde, superintendent of state excise.

Here's how you procure the handy permit:

1 According to the law, any person above the age of 25, can apply for a liquor licence to the Collector of
Mumbai City or to the Superintendent of State Excise, Mumbai

2 There are also a few other centers such as Boribunder excise office, Opera House excise office, Superintendent of State Excise office at Old Custom House, Fort, and the District Superintendent office at Meeth Bunder Road in Thane.

3 You have to fill up the forms available at these centers, affix a Re 1 court fee stamp and present it personally to the authorised officer

4 The charges for a one- year permit is Rs 100, while a lifetime licence will leave you poorer by Rs 1,000

5 An identity proof along with two recent photographs also should be submitted

6 You will immediately get the permit

While buying booze, going to a pub or throwing a party at home, here's what you should do:

1You should possess a liquor permit

2 Carry the permit along while buying booze or transporting it

3 According to the law, a person is allowed to buy two bottles of alcohol every week

4 The bar that you're drinking at should have all the licences. If there is a police raid on the bar for lack of these licenses, you can be rounded up as well.u00a0

5 The most severe punishment for violating the norms of boozing is imprisonment up to
five years or Rs 50,000 fine.

Of course, a lot of it depends on several factors, including quantity of alcohol consumed

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