GHAZIABAD: If you have been stashing up on those beer bottles at home for a long weekend party, be careful. A bottle more than a dozen can land you in jail for as many as three years, in addition to a minimum penalty of Rs 2,000 that can be several times more depending on the brand of alcohol or the number of bottles found.The British-era United Provinces (UP) Excise Act, 1910, which governs trading and consumption of alcohol and narcotics in Uttar Pradesh , makes it illegal to store more than 7.84 litres of alcohol at home. Section 60 of the Act lays down penalties for unlawful transport, manufacture as well as possession of alcohol. This means one can store only 12 bottles of beer having volume of 650ml each.Excise department officials had little to explain why the maximum limit of alcohol that can be stored at home was fixed at 7.84 litres by the Colonial-era lawmakers.“If any quantity of alcohol over and above the permissible limit is found within the premises, the entire consignment is considered contraband. Penalties are fixed at ten times the excise duty for the entire consignment. For ease of revenue calculation, a duty of Rs 77 had been fixed on each beer bottle at the time of computing penalties. The violator will be liable to cough up Rs 2,000 or ten times of the duty involved, whichever is higher,” an excise department official said.For instance, if two dozen bottles are found at anybody’s home, the total penalty will be pegged at Rs 18,480.In September 2017, the UP government had carried out amendments to the Excise Act. Earlier, punishment under this section included a maximum of two years’ imprisonment and a minimum penalty of Rs 500. But following the 2017 amendments, inter-state smuggling of liquor has been made a non-bailable offence in UP. For instance, a person can carry only a single unit of alcohol at a time into UP from across state borders, including Delhi. This, too, is only for consumption and not for sale. If the bottle imported is found with its seal intact at the time of importing, it will be presumed it is for sale and charges of liquor smuggling can be invoked. The offender can face a maximum of five years in jail.

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