Prohibition is no solution to alcoholism: top court, Pg9

Key Highlights:

• The Supreme Court observed that forced temperance is not a solution to alcoholism, citing the consistent failure of Gujarat, a "dry state," to prevent hooch tragedies.
• Gujarat has experienced over 10 major hooch tragedies since its formation in 1960, claiming more than 600 lives, despite its strict prohibition policy enforced through the Bombay Prohibition Act of 1949.
• The court highlighted that a total ban on alcohol drives the liquor trade underground, leading to unregulated and lethal brews.
• A Division Bench headed by Justice J.B. Pardiwala struck down Rules 18A and 18B of the Maharashtra Poisons Rules, 1972, as unconstitutional and arbitrary.
• These Maharashtra Poisons Rules, 1972, which mandated adding bitterant and colourant to methanol, were found to violate Articles 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

Detailed Insights:

• The Supreme Court noted that prohibition leads to "five evils": loss of tax revenue, high implementation costs, corruption in police and excise, illegal distilling, and an increase in drug menace.
• The Maharashtra Poisons Rules, 1972, were introduced following the 1991 Chhaya Bar tragedy in Mumbai, where 93 people died after consuming methanol-laced spurious liquor.
• The court found that the impugned rules failed the proportionality test, imposing a heavy financial burden on industries without addressing core issues like pilferage, diversion, and institutional corruption.
• The Supreme Court issued directions to prevent hooch tragedies, including breaking the supply and demand chain of illegal liquor and increasing vigilance at inter-State boundaries.
• It also recommended monitoring industrial units that illegally sell chemical solvents to liquor makers and ensuring methanol transport occurs in dedicated tankers to prevent pilferage.
• Recent hooch tragedies in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, which claimed 13 and 15 lives respectively, served as a reminder for authorities to act.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Prohibition: A legal ban on the manufacture, storage, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
• Hooch Tragedies: Incidents of mass poisoning and death caused by the consumption of illegally produced or adulterated alcoholic beverages, often containing toxic substances like methanol.
• Methanol: A highly toxic industrial alcohol that, when consumed, can cause blindness, organ failure, and death, often used as a cheaper substitute for ethanol in illicit liquor.
• Division Bench: A bench of two or more judges in a court, typically the Supreme Court or High Courts, constituted to hear and decide cases.