The Delhi government has issued stern directives to hotels, clubs, and restaurants regarding underage drinking, asking them to make sure that the age of their customers is verified through physical, government-issued identity proofs. This is after the excise department discovered multiple violations of the legal drinking age during recent inspections across the city.

In Delhi, liquor can be served only to persons who are above 25 years of age. However, inspections revealed that several customers were consuming liquor who were below 25 years of age, some even trying to fake crossing the legal drinking age. Complaints were also received regarding license holders serving liquor to persons below 25 years of age.

What does the Excise Act say?

Under the Delhi Excise Act, 2009, no retailer, employee, or agent is permitted to sell or serve liquor to anyone who appears to be less than 25 years of age for his or her own or any other person's consumption. Strict legal action can be taken against a person who commits this offense.

To address these violations, the excise department issued a circular to license holders, stating: “All the license holders of hotels, clubs, restaurants (HCR) are hereby directed to be more careful and to not serve liquor to any person under the age of 25 years without verifying the age through government-issued IDs.”

Why physical IDs?

To discourage the use of fake or photocopies of IDs, the department has asked hotels, clubs, and restaurants to accept only physical identity proofs. Digital IDs saved on mobile phones will not be considered unless they are on the Digilocker portal.

The department argued that by doing so, it would close the loopholes often exploited by violators using fake or edited digital IDs. It has also emphasized the fact that strict action would be taken against violators under the Delhi Excise Act.

The minimum age limit for Delhi has been discussed at length because the minimum age of neighboring NCR cities like Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, and Faridabad is less than that. Now, there was a suggestion in the recently scrapped 2021-22 excise policy to decrease the drinking age to 21, which could not come into effect due to the controversy of the policy itself.

Supporting the drug-free Delhi campaign

The campaign also calls for a drug-free Delhi within three years. With this, the excise department has warned the license holders to stay active in creating awareness regarding this campaign. Licensees have also been mandated to take an e-pledge at the website of the department and post the certificate at their premises.

Staff and customers are also encouraged to support this effort to prevent drug abuse and promote a healthy lifestyle. 

These steps would ensure compliance with the drinking age laws and therefore help the Delhi government have a safer, healthier hospitality environment across the entire city.