The Punjab Excise Act, 1914(Bare Act )

The Punjab Excise Act, 1914 
 
 
CHAPTER I  
Preliminary and definitions. 
 
1. Short title. - (1) This Act may be called the Punjab Excise Act, 1914 and  
(2) Extent and commencement. - It extends to the whole of Punjab / Haryana.  
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may be notification direct. 
 
NOTES 
 
1. The date of enforcement . - This Act came into force on 1st February, 1914. It was 
notified to the public in Punjab Government Gazette Notification No. 112 dated 23.1.1914.  
2. Statement of Objects and Reasons. – Up to 1905 the possession, manufacture, circula-
tion, distribution, sale, import, export and transport of the excisable intoxicants was being 
controlled/governed under the Excise Act, 1895 (XII of 1986). From the public and the offi-
cials of the Deptt. many difficulties were being expressed in effecting a proper control and 
distribution and in checking the offences. While the public was interested in any easy excess 
to the controlled intoxicants, at the same time on the othe r hand the Excise Officers wanted a 
more effective legislation to check and apprehend offences/offenders effectively. The British 
Rules in India approached 'The Crown' in Britain in this connection.  
The Government of India, accordingly constituted and app ointed a Committee for conduct -
ing a thorough investigation to find out the defects in the then prevailing systems and the 
scheme of the Excise Act, 1895 to meet with the demand of the changed circumstances in 
the public as well as to remove the defects co ming in the way of the Excise Officers in giving 
effect to the objects of the Act. The Committee was desired to suggest a rational, effective 
and profitable change in the prevailing system which may earn maximum possible revenue to 
the government and help an effective check of the offences.  
The restrictions imposed by laws over the use and distribution the manufacture and sale 
etc. of the intoxicants (mainly the liquor) was questioned in England. The public felt it a 
restriction over the human rights to avail and enjoy the natural resources freely. On a 
challenge to such control the Filed, J. in Crowleg v. Ghristensen, (1980) 34 Law Ed 620 at 
page 623 replied the contentions raised in this behalf as under:- 
"There is in this position an assumption of a fa ct which does not exist, that when the liquors 
are taken in excess the injuries are confined to the party offending. The injury is true, falls 
upon him in his health which the habit undermines, in his morals, which it weakens, and in 
the self - abasement wh ich it creates. But as it leads to neglect of business and waste of 
properly and general demoralization, it affects those who are immediately connected with and 
dependent upon him. By the general concurrence of opin ion of every civilized and Christian 
community, there are few sources of crime and mis ery to society equal to the drum shop, 
where intoxicating liquors, in small quantities, to be drunk at the time are sold indiscriminately 
to all parties applying. The statistics of every State show a greater amount of crime and 
misery attributable to the use of ardent spirits obtained at these retail liquor saloons than to 
any other source. The sale of such liquor in this way has therefore, been at all times, by the 
courts of every State consid ered as the proper subject of legislative regulation. Not only may 
a license fee be ex acted from the keeper of the saloon before a glass of his liquors can be 
thus disposed of, but restrictions may be imposed as to the class of person to whom they 
may be sold, and the h ours or the day, and the days of the week on which the saloons may 
be opened. Their sale in that form may be absolutely prohibited is a question of public 
morality, and not of federal law. The police power of the State is fully competent to regulate 
the bu siness to mitigate its evils or to suppress it entirely. There is no inherent right in a 
citizen to thus sell intoxicating liquor by retail, it is not a privilege of citizen of the State of the 
State or of a citizen of the United States. As it is a busine ss attended with danger to the 
community, it may, as already said, be entirely prohibited, or be permitted under such 
conditions as will limit to the utmost its evils. The manner and extent of regulation rest in the 
discretion of the governing authority. T he authority may vest in such officers as it may deem 
proper the power of passing upon application for permission to carry it on, and to issue 
licenses for that purpose."  
The necessity for legislation to give effect to the recommendations of the Indian Ex cise 
Cornn1ittee of 1905 -06 was brought to public notice in connection with Bengal and United 
Provinces Excise Act of 1909 and 1910, and in explanation of similar legislation for the Prov -
ince of the Punjab it will suffice to reproduce the following extrac ts from the Statement of ob -
jects and Reasons appended to the Bill which became law as United Provinces Act, IV of 
1910:-  
In 1905 an Excise Committee was appointed by the Government of India to investigate 
the various systems of excise administration obta ining in each province of British India, 
and to report how far they calculated to give the fullest practical effect to the general 
policy of the Government of India in excise matters as declared in resolution No. 5001 
Exc; of the Finance Department, dated the 7th September, 1905.  
In connection with this investigation the Committee was instructed to consider the various 
defects in the Excise Act, 1895 (XII of 1896), which had been brought to notice rendered it 
desirable that the Act in question should be c ompletely repealed and, if so, to indicate the 
main lines on which fresh legislation was required.  
The Committee after a careful scrutiny of the Act decided in favour of repeal. They pointed 
out that the Act was unsuited to modem conditions, and that it w as an obstacle in the way of 
improved methods of excise administration.  
Among other defects, the following were specially brought to notice ;-  
(a) that the Act provides only for the distillery system in its crude form;  
(b) that it ignores the subject of the wholesale vend or liquor;  
(c) x x x x  
(d) that the procedure laid down does not provide sufficiently for the   detection of 
offences and the arrest of offenders;  
(e) that the power of inspection is unnecessarily restricted; and  
(f) that the provisions for the making of statutory rules are imperfect.  
The Committee expressed the opinion that a fresh enactment of general application ought to 
be framed and that the new law should proceed on the lines followed in the Madras Abkari 
Act of 1886. That en actment is permissive in character, and while it requires that the 
manufacture, possession and sale of excisable articles shall be covered by license granted 
by due authority, in other respects it merely indicates the broad lines on which the Abkari 
System is to be con ducted and the nature of the control which may be exercised, leaving 
points of detail to be determined by rules framed under the Act and having the force of law.  
As contrasted with the Madras Act, the Excise Act, 1896, is not enabling butt restrictive; 
and in common with all other Acts, drafted on the same rigid model, it is open to the 
objection that by providing only for specific systems, it whether checks or hinders the 
adoption of improved methods suggested by further experience. Every n ew development 
which appears has to be met be recourse to fresh legislation.  
The Government of India have accepted the conclusions of the Excise Committee as to the 
necessity for a new enactment and have approved of the lines on which, as suggested by 
the Committee, the new Act should be framed. They have, however, decided that instead of 
an Act of general application being passed, each province should legislate for itself.  
As in the case of United Provinces Bill the present Punjab draft has been modeled on the 
draft Bill prepared by the Excise Committee but consideration has also been paid to the 
modifications of that draft which have been introduced in the recent Bengal and United 
Provinces Legislation. The framers of the present Bill have also profited  by the discussions 
which have taken place in connection with Central Provinces Excise Bill. The particular 
circumstances of the Excise Administration of the Punjab have been very carefully 
considered and were nec essary a departure from the models referre d to above has been 
made to meet them.  
3. Why drastically regulate the drink trade?  - the Social rationale - on Brandies brief. -
Anywhere on our human planet the sober imperative of moderating the consumption of inebri -
ating methane substances and manacling liquor business towards that end, will meet with axi -
omatic acceptance. Medical, criminological and sociological testimony on a cosmic scale 
bears out the tragic miscellany of traumatic consequences of shattered health and broken 
homes of crime escalati on with alcohol as the hidden villain or aggressively promotional anti -
hero, of psychic break -downs, insane cravings and efficiency impairment, of pathetic descent 
to doom sans sense, sans shame, sans everything, and host of other disasters individual, 
familial, genetic and societal.  
The alcoholics will chime in with A. E. Houesman:  
 "And malt does more than Milton can to justify God's ways to man……….."  
But the wisdom of the ages oozes through Thomas Becon who wrote:  
"For when the wine is in, the wit is out.”  
Dr. Walter Reckless, a criminologist of international repute who had worked in India for 
years has in "The Crime Problem" rightly stressed;  
"Of all the problems in human society, there is probably none which is as closely related 
to criminal behaviour as is drunkenness. It is hard to say whether this close relationship 
is a chemical one, a psychological one, or a situational one. Several different levels of 
relationship between ingestion of alcohol and behaviour apparently exist. A recent 
statement by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency quite succinctly de scribes 
the effect of alcohol on behaviour: Alcohol acts as a depressant; it inhibits self  control 
before it curtails the ability to act; and an individual's personality and related so cial and 
cultural factors assert themselves during drunken behaviour.... Although its dangers are 
not commonly understood or accepted by the public, ethyl alcohol can have perhaps 
the most serious consequences of any mind-and-body-altering drug. It causes addiction 
in chronic alcoholics, who suffer consequences just as serious, if not more se rious than 
opiate addicts. It is by far the most dangerous and the most widely used of any drug."  
The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of  Justice made the 
following pertinent observations:  
"The figures show that crimes of physical violence are associated with intoxicated per
 sons……Thus the closest relationship between intoxication and criminal behaviour 
(except for public intoxication) has  been established for criminal categories involving as -
saultive behavior. This relationship is especially high for lower class Negroes and Whites. 
More than likely, aggression in these groups is weakly controlled and the drink ing of 
alcoholic beverages se rves as a triggering mechanism for the external release of 
aggression. There are certain types of key situations located in lower class life in which 
alcohol is a major factor in triggering assaultive behavior. A frequent locale is the lower 
class tavern, which is an important social institution for the class group. Assaultive epi -
sodes are triggered during the drinking situation by quarrels that center around defam ing 
personal honor, threats to masculinity, and questions about one's birth legitimacy. 
Personal quarrels between husband and wife, especially after the husband's drinking, 
frequently result in assaulting episodes, in the lower-lower class family."  
The steady flow of drunkenness cases through the hands of the police, into our lower 
courts, and i nto our jails and workhouses has been labeled the "revolving" door, because a 
very large part of this flow of cases consists of chronic drinkers who go through the door and 
out, time af ter time. On one occasion when the author was visiting a Saturday morn ing 
session of a misdemeanor court, there was a case of an old "bum" who had been in the local 
workhouse 285 times previously."  
An Indian author, Dr. Sethna dealing with society and the criminal, has this to say; 1  
"Many crimes are caused under the infl uence of alcohol or drugs. The use of alcohol, in 
course of time, causes a great and irresistible craving for it. To retain the so -called 'sat-
isfaction', derived from the use of alcohol or drugs, the drunkard or the drug -addict has 
got to go on increasin g the quantities from time to time; such a state of affairs may lead 
him even to commit thefts or frauds to get the same otherwise. If he gets drunk so heav -
ily that he cannot understand the consequences of his acts he is quite likely to do some 
harmful act - even an act of homicide. Very often, crimes of violence have been com -
mitted in a state of intoxication. Dr. Hearly is of the opinion that complete elimination of 
alcohol and harmful drug habits would cause a reduction in crime by at least 20 per 
cent; not only that, but there would also be cumulative effect on the generations to 
come, by diminishing poverty, improving home conditions and habits of living and 
environment, and perhaps even an improvement in heredity itself.  
Abstinence campaigns carried out efficiently and in the proper manner show how crime 
drops. Dr. Hearly cites Baer, who says that Father Mathew's abstinence campaigns in 
Ireland, during 1837 -1842, reduced the use of spirits 50 per cent, and the crimes dropped 
from 64,520 to 47,027. Acc ording to Evangeline Booth, the Commander of the Salvation 
Army, "In New York before prohibition, the Salvation Army would collect from 1,200 to 1,300 
drunkards in a single night and seek to reclaim them. Prohibition immediately reduced the 
gathering to 400 and the proportion of actual drunkards from 95 per cent to less than 20 per 
cent". And "a decrease of two thirds in the number of derelicts, coupled with a decrease in the 
number of drunkards almost to the vanishing point, certainly lightened crime and charity bills. 
It gave many of the erstwhile drunkards hew hope and a new start". So says E. E. Covert, in 
an interesting article on prohibition."  
The ubiquity of alcohol in the United States has led to nation wide sample studies and they 
make startling disclosures from a criminological angle. For instance, in Washington, D. C. 
76.5% of all arrests in 1965 were for drunkenness, disorderly conduct and vagrancy, while 
76.7% of the total arrests in Atlanta were for these reasons.  
Of the 8 million arrests in  1970 almost one -third of these were alcohol -related. Alcohol is 
said to affect the lives of 9 million persons and t~ cost $ 10 billion in lost work time and an 
additional $ 5 billion in health and welfare costs."  
Richard D. Knudten stated "Although more  than 35% of all annual arrests in the United 
States are for drunkenness, additional persons committing more serious crimes while intoxi -
cated are included within the other crime categories like drunken driving, assault, rape and 
murder.  
President .Brezhnev bewailed the social maladies of increasing alcoholism. Nikita Kruschev 
was unsparing:  
"Drunks should be 'kicked out of the party' not moved from one responsible post to an -
other."  
Abraham Lincoln, with conviction and felicity said that the use of alco hol beverages had 
many defenders but no defence and intoned:  
"Whereas the use of intoxicating liquor as a beverage is productive of pauperism, degra -
dation and crime, and believing it is our duty to discourage that which produces more 
evil than good, we, therefore, pledge ourselves to abstain from the use of intoxicating 
liquor as a beverage."  
In his famous Washington's birthday address said:  
"Whether or not the world would be vastly benefited by a total and final banishment from it 
of all intoxicating d rinks seems to me not now an open question. Thee -fourths of 
mankind confess the affirmative with their lips, and I believe all the rest acknowledge it 
in their hearts."  
Jack Hobbs, the great cricketer, held;  
"The greatest enemy to success on the cricket field is the drinking habit."  
And Don Bradman than whom few batsmen better wielded the willow, encored and said:  
"Leave drink alone. Abstinence is the thing that is what made me.”  
Sir Andrew Clark, in Lachrymal language spun the lesson from hospital beds:  
"As I looked at the hospital wards today and saw that seven out often owed their diseases 
to alcohol, I could but lament that the teaching about this question was not more direct, 
more decisive, more home-thrusting than ever it had been."  
George Bernard Shaw, a provocative teetotaler, used tart words of trite wisdom:  
"If a natural choice between drunkenness and sobriety were possible, I would leave the 
people free to choose. But then I see an enormous capitalistic organization pushing 
drink under people's noses of every comer and pocketing the price while leaving me and 
others to pay the colossal damages, then I am prepared to smash that organisation and 
make it as easy for a poor man to stay sober, if he wants to, as it is for his dog.  
Alcohol robs you of that last inch of efficiency that makes the difference between first -rate 
and second-rate.  
I don't drink beer - first, because I don't like it; and second, because my profession is one 
that obliges me to keep in critical training, and beer is fatal both to training and to criti -
cism.  
Only teetotalers can produce the best and sanest of which they are capable. 
Drinking is the chloroform that enables the poor to endure the painful operation of living. 
It is in the last degree disgraceful that a man cannot provide his own genuine courage and 
high spirits without drink. 
I should be utterly ashamed if my soul had shriveled up to such an extent that I had to go 
out and drink a whisky. 
The constitutional test of reasonableness, built into Art. 19 and of arbi trariness implicit in 
Art. 14. has a relativist touch. We have to view the impact of alcohol and temperance on a 
given society; and for us, the degree of constitutional restriction and the strategy of meaning -
ful enforcement will naturally depend on the Th ird World setting, the ethos of our people, the 
economic compulsions of today and of human tomorrow. Societal realities shape social jus -
tice. While the universal evil in alcohol has been indicated the particularly pernicious conse -
quence of the drink evil  in India may be useful to remember while scanning the rationale of 
an Indian temperance measure. Nearly four decades ago, Gandhiji, articulating the 
inarticulate millions' well being wrote:  
"The most that tea and coffee can do is to cause a little extra expense, but one of the 
most greatly felt evils of the British Rule is the importation of alcohol.. .... that enemy of 
mankind, that curse of civilization -in some form or another. The measure of the evil 
wrought by this borrowed habit will be properly gau ged by the reader when he is told 
that the en emy has spread throughout the length and breadth of India, in spite of the 
religious pro hibition for even the touch of a bottle containing alcohol pollutes the 
Mohamedan, according to his religion, and the re ligion of the Hindu strictly prohibits the 
use of alcohol in any form whatever, and yet alas, the Government, it seems, instead of 
stopping, aiding and abetting the spread of alcohol. The poor there, as everywhere, are 
the greatest sufferers. It is they who spend what little they earn in buying alcohol instead 
of buying good food and other necessaries. It is that wretched poor man who has to 
starve his family, who has to break the sacred trust of looking after his children, if any, in 
order to drink himse lf into misery and premature death. Here be it said to the credit of 
Mr. Caine, the ex -Member for Barrow, that, he undaunted, is still carrying on his 
admirable crusade against the spread of the evil, but what can the energy of one man, 
however powerful, do against the inaction of an apathetic and dormant Government."  
Parenthetically speaking, many of these thoughts may well be regarded by Gandhians as 
an indictment of governmental policy even today.  
The thrust of drink control has to be studied in a Thi rd World country, developing its human 
resources and the haven it offers to the poor, especially their dependants. Gandhiji again:  
"For me the drink question is one of dealing with a growing social evil against which the 
State is bound to provide whilst it has got the opportunity. The aim is patent. We want to 
wean the labouring population and the Harijans from the curse. It is a gigantic prob lem, 
and the best resources of all social workers, especially women, will be taxed to the 
utmost before the drink habit goes. The prohibition I have adumbrated is but beginning 
(undoubtedly indispensable) of the reform. We 3cannot reach the drinker so long as he 
has the drink shop near his door to tempt him."  
Says Dr. Sethna in his book already referred to :  
"And in India, with the introduction of prohibition we find a good decline in crime. There 
are, however, some persons who cannot do without liquor. Such persons even to the 
extent of making illicit liquor and do not mind drinking harmful rums and spirits. The 
result is starvation of children at home, assaults and quarrels between husband and 
wife, between father and child, desertion, and other evils resulting from the abuse of 
alcohol.  
 
The introduction of prohibition in India actually caused a considerable fall in the number of 
crimes caused by intoxication. Before prohibition one often had to witness the Mis erable 
spectacle of poor and ignorant persons -millhands laborers, and even the unem ployed 
with starving families at home - frequenting the pithas (liquor a nd adulterated toddy 
shops) drinking, burning, and harmful spirits, and adulterated toddy, which really had no 
vitamin B value; these persons spent the little they earned after a hard day's toil, or what 
little that had remained with them or what they had obtained by some theft, trick fraud or 
a borrowing they spent away all that, and then, at home, left wife and children starving 
and without proper clothes, education, and other elementary necessaries of life.  
The labour Welfare Department of the State Governments and of the Municipalities are ren-
dering valuable service, through their labour welfare officers who work at the centres 
assigned to them, impressing upon the people how the use of alcohol is ruinous and 
instructing them also how to live hygienica lly; there are lectures on the evils of drug and 
during habits.  
Partial prohibition of hot country liquors was introduced by the Congress Ministers in Bom -
bay, Bihar, Madras (in Salem; Chittor, Cuddapah and North Arcot Districts) when they first 
came into  power. In C. P. and Berar, prohibition covered approximately one - fourth of the 
area and population of the State. In Assam, prohibition is directed mainly against opium. In 
Deccan Hyderabad on 3rd Jan., 1943, a Firman was issued by his Exalted Highness th e 
Nizam, supporting the temperance movement. Jammu and Kashmir came also on the move 
towards prohibition. Since 1949 State Governments determined the policy of introduction of 
total prohibition.  
On April 10, 1948, the Central Advisory Council for Railways, under the Chairmanship of the 
Hon'ble Dr. John Matthai, agreed to the proposal to ban the serving of liquor in refresh ment 
rooms at railway stations and dining cars.  
In Madras, prohibition was inaugurated on 2nd Oct., 1948, by the Premier, the Hon'ble Mr.  
O. P. Ramaswami Reddiar who pronounced it a red letter day.  
In 1949, West Punjab took steps for the establishment of prohibition. In 1949, nearly half the 
area of the Central Provinces and Berar got dry, and it was proposed to enforce prohibition 
throughout the State.  
In Bombay the Prohibition Bill was passed and became Act in 1949, and Bombay got dry by 
April 1950.  
The number of offences under the Abkari Act is notoriously high. It shows the craving of 
some persons for liquor in spite of all good  efforts of legal prohibition. The remedy lies in 
making prohibition successful through education (even at the school state), suggestion, re -
education.  
The Tek Chand Committee 2surveyed the civilizations from Babylon through China, 
Greece, Rome and India. X-rayed the religions of the world and the dharmasastras and con -
cluded from this conspectus that alcoholism was public enemy. Between innocent first sour 
sip and nocent never stop alcoholism only time is the thin partition and, inevitability the sure 
nexus, refined arguments to the contrary notwithstanding.  
In India, some genteel socialites have argued for the diplomatic pay - off from drinks and 
Nehru has negativated it :  
"Not only does the health of a nation suffer from this (alcoholism), but there is  a tendency 
to increase conflicts both in the national and the international sphere.  
I must say that I do not agree with the statement that is sometimes made -even by our am -
bassadors - that drinks attract people to parties and if there are no drinks serve d people will 
not come. I have quite frankly told them that if people are only attracted by drinks, you had 
better keep away such people from our missions. I do not believe in this kind of  diplomacy 
which depends on drinking  and, if we have to indulge in  that kind of diplomacy, others 
have had more training in it and are likely to win."  
Of course, the struggle for Swaraj went beyond political liberation and demanded social 
transformation. Redemption from drink evil was woven into this militant movement a nd 
Gandhiji was the expression of this mission.  
"I hold during to be more damnable than thieving and perhaps even prostitution. Is it not 
often the parent to both? I ask you to join the country in sweeping out of existence the 
drink revenue and abolishing the liquor shops.  
Let me, therefore, re-declare my faith in undiluted prohibition before I land myself in deeper 
water. In was appointed dictator for one hour for all India, the first thing I would do would 
be to close without compensation all the liquor shops, destroy all the toddy palms such as 
I know them in Gujarat, compel factory owners to produce humane con ditions for their 
workmen and open refreshment and recreation rooms where these workmen would get 
innocent drinks and equally innocent amusement s. I would close down the factories if the 
owners pleaded for want of funds."  
It has been a plank in the national programme since 1920. It is coming, therefore, in due 
fulfillment of the national will definitely expressed nearly twenty years ago.  
Sociological Journey to interpretive Destination - This long excursion may justly be brought 
to a close by an oft repeated but constitutionally relevant quotation from Field, J. irresistible 
attractive for fine-spun feeling and exquisite expression.  
"There is in this position an assumption of a fact which does not exist, that when the liq -
uors are taken in excess the injuries are confined to the party offending. The injury, if it 
is true, first falls upon him in his health, which the habit undermines; in his mora ls, 
which it weakens; and in the self-abasement which it creates. But as it leads to neglect 
of business and waste of property and general demoralization, it affects those who are 
immediately connected with those dependant upon him. By the general concurrence of 
opinion of every civilized and Christian community, there are few sources of crime and 
misery to society equal to the dram -shop, where intoxicating liquors, in small quanti -
ties, to be drunk at the time, are sold indiscriminately to all parties appl ying. The statis-
tics of every State show a greater amount of crime and misery attributable to the use 
of ardent spirits obtained at those retail liquor saloons than to any other source. The 
sale of such liquors in this way has, therefore, been, at all times, by the courts of every 
State, considered as the proper subject of legislative regulation. Not only may a 
license be exacted from the keeper of the saloon before a glass of his liquors can be 
thus disposed of, but restrictions may be imposed as to the class of persons to whom 
they may be sold, and the hours of the day, and the days of the week, on which the 
saloons may be opened. Their sale in that form may be absolutely prohibited. It is a 
question of public expedi ency and public morality, and not of federal law. The police 
power of the State fully competent to regulate the business to mitigate its evils or to 
suppress it entirely, there is no inherent right in a citizen to thus sell intoxicating liquors 
by retail it is not a privilege of a citizen of the State or of a citizen of the United States. 
As it is a business attended with danger to the community, it may as already said, be 
entirely prohibited, or be per mitted under such conditions as will limit to the utmost its 
evils. The manner and extent o f regulation rest in the discretion of the governing 
authority. That authority may vest in such officers as. it may deem proper and power of 
passing upon application for permission to carry it on, and to issue licenses for that 
purpose. It is a matter of legislative will only."  
The panorama of view, insights and analyses we have tediously projected serves the socio -
legal essay on adjudicating the reasonableness and arbitrariness of the impugned shut down 
order on Tuesdays and Fridays. Whatever our personal  views and reservations on the 
philosophy, the politics, the economics and the pragmatics of prohibition, we are called upon 
to pass on the vires of the amended order. "We, the people of India', have enacted Article 47 
and 'we, the Justices of India' cann ot 'lure it back to cancel half a line' or 'wash out a word of 
it', especially when progressive implementation of the policy of prohibition is, by Arts. 38 and 
47 made fundamental to the country's governance. The Constitution is the property of the 
people and the courts know how is to apply the Constitution, not to assess it. In the process 
of interpretation, Part IV of the Constitution must enter the soul of Part III and the laws, as 
held by the Court in State of Kerala v. N. M. Thomas, (1976) 1 SCR 906'  (AIR 1976 SC 490) 
and earlier. The dynamics of statutory construction, in a country like ours, where the pre -
Independence Legislative package has to be adapted to the vital spirit of the Constitution, 
may demand that new wine be poured into old bottles, l anguage permitting. We propound no 
novel proposition and recall the opinion of Chief Justice Winslow of Wisconsin upholding as 
constitutional Workn1en's Compensation Act of which he said:  
"when an eighteenth century constitution forms the charter of liber ty of a twentieth century 
government, must its general provisions be construed and interpreted by an eight eenth 
century mind surrounded by eighteenth century conditions and ideals? Clearly not. This 
were a command of half the race in its progress, to str etch the state upon a veri table 
bed of procrustes. Where there is no express command or prohibition, but only general 
language of policy to be considered, the conditions prevailing at the time of its adoption 
must have their due weight but the changed soc ial, economic and governmen tal 
conditions of the time, as well as the problems which the changes have produced, must 
also logically enter into the consideration and become influential factors in the set -
tlement of problems of construction and interpretation."  
That this doctrine is to be deemed to apply only to "due process" and "police power" deter -
minations, see especially concurring opinions of Marshall, 1. and Barness, J.  
In short, while the imperial masters were concerned about the revenues they coul d make 
from the liquor trade they were not indifferent to the social control of this business which, if 
left unbridled, was fraught with danger to health, morals, public order and the flow of life 
without stress or distress. Indeed, even collection of reve nue was intertwined with orderly mi-
lieu; and these twin objects are reflected in the scheme and provisions of the Act. Indeed, the 
history of excise legislation in this country has received judicial attention earlier and the 
whole position has been neatly  summarised by Chandrachud J., (as he then was) if we may 
say so with great respect, and a scissor-and-paste operation is enough for our purpose:  
"Liquor licensing has a long history. Prior to the passing of the Indian Constitution the li -
censees mostly r estricted their challenge to the demand of the Government as being in 
excess of the condition of the license or on the ground that the rules in pursuance of 
which such conditions were framed were themselves beyond the rule -making power of 
the authority con cerned. The provisions of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914, like the provi -
sions of similar Acts in force in other States, reflect the nature and the width of the 
power in the matter of liquor licensing. We will notice first the relevant provisions of Act 
under consideration.  
Section 5 of the Act empowers the State Government to regulate the maximum or mini -
mum quantity of any intoxicant which may be sold by retail or wholesale. Section 8 (a) 
vests the general superintendence and administration of all matters r elating to excise in 
the Financial Commissioner, subject to the control of the State Government. Section 16 
provides that no intoxicant shall be imported, exported or transported except after pay -
ment of the necessary duty or execution of a bond for such p ayment and in compliance 
with such conditions as the State Government may impose. Section 17 confers upon the 
State Government the power to prohibit the import or export of any intoxicant into or 
from Punjab or any part thereof and to prohibit the transpor t of any intoxicant. By S. 20 
(1) no intoxicant can be manufactured or collected, no hemp plant can be cultivated, no 
tari producing tree can be tapped, no tari can be drawn from any tree and no person can 
possess any material or apparatus for manufacturin g an intoxicant other than tari except 
under the authority and subject to the terms and conditions of a license granted by the 
Collector. By sub-sec. (2) of S. 20 no distillery or brewery can be constructed or worked 
except under the authority and subject to the terms and conditions of a license granted 
by the Financial Commissioner. Section 24 provides that no person shall have in his 
possession any intoxicant in excess of such quantity as the State Government declares 
to be the limit of retail sale, excep t under the authority and in accordance with the terms 
and conditions of a license or permit. Sub -sec (4) of S. 24 empowers the State Govern -
ment to prohibit the possession of any intoxicant or restrict its possession by imposing 
such conditions as it may prescribe. Section 26 prohibits the sale of liquor except under 
the authority and subject to the terms and conditions and subject to the terms and con -
ditions of a license granted in that behalf.  
Section 27 of the Act empowers the State Government to "lea se" on such conditions and 
for such period as it may deem fit or retail, any country liquor or intoxicating drug within 
any specified local area. On such lease being granted the Collector, under sub  sec (2), 
has to grant to the lessee a license in the form of his lease.  
Section 34 (I) of the Act provides that every license, permit or pass under the Act shall be 
granted (a) on payment of such fees, if any, (b) subject to such restrictions and on such 
conditions, (c) in such form and containing such particu lars, and (d) for such period as 
the Financial Commissioner may direct. By S. 35 (2), before any license is granted for 
the retail sale of liquor for consumption on any premises the Collector has to ascertain 
local public opinion in regard to the licensing  of such premises. Section 36 confers 
power on the authority granting any license to cancel or suspend it if, inter alia, any duty 
or fee payable thereon has not been duly paid.  
Section 56 of the Act empowers the State Government to exempt any intoxicant from the 
provisions of the Act. By S. 58 the State Government may make rules for the purpose of 
carrying out the provisions of this Act. Sec. 59 empowers the Financial Commissioner by 
Cl. (a) to regulate the manufacture, supply, storage or sale of any intoxicant.  
 xx  xx  xx  
The Prohibition and Excise Laws in force in other States contain provisions substantially 
similar to those contained in the Punjab Excise Act. Several Acts passed by State Leg -
islatures contain provisions rendering it unlawful to manu facture, export, import, trans -
port or sell intoxicating liquor except in accordance with a license, permit or pass granted 
in that behalf. The Bombay Abkari Act 1878; the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949, the 
Bengal Excise Acts of1878 and 1909; the Madras Abk ari Act 1886; the Laws and Rules 
contained in the Excise Manual United Province, the Eastern Bengal and As sam Excise 
Act, 1910; the Bihar and Orissa Excise Act 1915; the Cochin Abkari Act as amended by 
the Kerala Abkari Laws Act 1964; the Madhya Pradesh E xcise Act 1915, are instances 
of State legislation by which extensive powers are conferred on the State Government in 
the matter of liquor licensing.  
The trade of liquor has instinct with injury to individual and community and has serious side -
effects rec ognised everywhere in every age. Not to control alcohol business is to abdicate 
the right to rule for the good of the people. Not to canalise the age and sex of consumers and 
servers, the hours of sale and cash -and-carry basis, the punctuation and pause in  days to 
produce partially the 'dry' habit -is to fail functionally as a welfare State. The whole scheme of 
the statute proclaims its purpose of control in time and space and otherwise. Section 58 
vests in Government the power for more serious restriction s and laying down of principles. 
Details and lesser constraints have been left to the rule -making power of the Financial 
Commissioner. The complex of provisions is purpose -oriented, considerably re -inforced by 
Art. 47. Old statutes get invigorated by the Paramount Parchment. Interpretation of the text of 
pre-constitution enactments can legitimately be infused with the concerns and commitments 
of the Constitu tion, as an imperative exercise. Thus, it is impossible to maintain that no 
guidelines are found in the Act.  
The search for guidelines is not a verbal excursion. The very subject - matter of the statute -
intoxicants - eloquently impresses the Act with a clear purpose, a social orientation and a 
statutory strategy. If bread and brandy are different the p oint we make argues itself. The goal 
is promotion of temperance and, flowing there out, of sobriety, public order, individual health, 
crime control, medical bills, family welfare, curbing of violence and tension, restoration of the 
addict's mental, moral a nd physical personality and interdict on impoverishment, in various 
degrees, compounded. We have extensively quoted supportive literature; and regulation of 
alcohol per se furnishes a definite guideline. If the Section or the Rule intended to combat an 
evil is misused for a perverse, ulterior or extraneous object that action, not the law, will be 
struck down. In this view, discrimination or arbitrariness is also excluded.  
A final bid to stigmatize the provision (Sec. 59 (f) (v)) was made by raising consternation.  
The power to fix the days and hours is so broad that he authority may fix six to seven days or 
23 out of24 hours as 'dry' days or closed hours and thus cripple the purpose of the license. 
This is an ersatz apprehension, a caricature of the provision and an assumption of power run 
amok. An Abkari law, as here unfolded by the scheme (chapters and sections further 
amplified by the rules framed there under during the last 64 years) is not a Prohibition Act 
with a mission of total prohibition. The obvi ous object is to balance temperance with tax, to 
condition and curtail consumption without liquidating the liquor business, to experiment with 
phased and progres sive projects of prohibition without total ban on the alcohol trade or 
individual intake. The temperance movement leaves the door half -closed, not wide ajar; the 
prohibition crusade ban ishes wholly the drinking of intoxicants. So it follows that the limited 
temperance guideline writ large in the Act will monitor the use of the power. Operation 
Temperance, leading later to the former, may be a strategy within the scope of the Abkari 
Act.  
Both may be valid but we do not go into it. Suffice it to say that even restrictions under Art. 
19 may, depending on situations, be pushed to the point of prohibit ion consistently with rea -
sonableness. The chimerical fear that 'fix the days' means even 'ban the whole week,' is 
either pathological or artificial, not certainly real under the Act. We are not to be understood 
to say that a complete ban is without the bo unds of the law - it turns on a given statutory 
scheme.  
We have no hesitation, in our hearts and our heads, to hold that every systematic, profit ori -
ented activity, however sinister, suppressive or socially diabolic cannot, ipso facto, exalt itself 
into a trade. Incorporation of Directive principles of State Policy casting the high duty upon 
the State to strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effec -
tively as it may a social order in which justice - social, economic and political- shall inform all 
the institutions of the national life, is not idle print but command to action. We can never for -
get, except at our peril, that the Constitution obligates the State to ensure an adequate 
means of livelihood to its citizens and to see that the health and strength of workers men and 
women, are not abused, that exploitation, normal and material, shall be extradited. In short, 
State action defending the weaker sections from social injustice and all forms of exploitation 
and raising th e standard of living of the people, necessarily imply that economic activities, 
attired as trade or business or commerce, can be de -recognised as trade or business. At this 
point, the legal cul ture and the public morals of a nation may merge, economic, ju stice and 
taboo of traumatic trade may meet and jurisprudence may frown upon day dark and deadly 
dealings. The constitutional refusal to consecrate exploitation as 'trade' in a socialist Republic 
like ours argued itself."  
4. Prohibition - Duty of State Government. - Article 19(1 )(g) provides that all citizens 
shall have the right to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or 
business. This light conferred by the aforesaid provision is circumscribed by the provisions of 
clause (6) of the very Article which reads as follows:  
"(6) Nothing in sub -clause (g) of the said clause shall affect the operation of any existing 
law in so far as it imposes, or prevent the States from making any law imposing, in the 
interests of the general public,  reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right con -
ferred by the said sub -clause, and, in particular, nothing in the said sub -clause shall af-
fect the operation of any existing law in so far as it relates to, or prevent the State from 
making any law relating to -  
(i) the professional or technical qualifications necessary for practising any profession or 
carrying on any occupation, trade or business, or  
(ii) the carrying on by the State, or by a corporation owned or controlled by the State, of 
any trade, business, industry or service, whether to the exclusion, complete or partial, of 
citizens or otherwise."  
Thus Article 19( 1 )(g) read with Article 19(6) spells out a fundamental right of the citizens to 
practice any profession or to can)' on any occ upation, trade or business so long as it is not 
prohibited or is within the framework of the regulation, if any, if such prohibition or regulation 
has been imposed by the State by enacting a law in the interests of the general public. It 
cannot be disputed that certain professions, occupations, tra

Excerpt shown. Open the full act in Lexace.

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