Proposal to reduce age for purchase and consumption of liquor from 21 to 18 withdrawn

Government had on January 9 issued draft rules to amend the Karnataka Excise (General Conditions of Licenses) Rules, 1967, reducing the age limit for purchase and consumption of alcohol to 18 years

In the light of objections raised by public and associations over the proposal to reduce the age limit for purchase and consumption of alcohol in the State from 21 years to 18 years, the State government on January 18, Wednesday withdrew the notification.

The government had on January 9 issued draft rules to amend the Karnataka Excise (General Conditions of Licenses) Rules, 1967, reducing the age limit for purchase and consumption of alcohol to 18 years.

The amendment to the rules was proposed to overcome an ambiguity in law. While Section 36 (1) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, prohibited sale of liquor to persons under 18 years, Rule 10 (1) (e) of the Karnataka Excise (General Conditions of Licenses) Rules, 1967, prohibited the sale of liquor to persons below 21 years. The changes had been sought after a high-level committee set up to identify and eliminate redundant aspects of law suggested reduction of age to 18 years.

However, on Wednesday, Excise Commissioner J. Ravishankar issued a statement that after considering objections raised with respect to the draft rules lowering the age from 21 years to 18 years, the provision in the Karnataka Excise (General Conditions of Licenses) Rules, 1967, to substitute the words “18 years” for the words “21 years” had been withdrawn with immediate effect.