The High Court on Sunday questioned the legality of the provisions of the Alcohol Control Rules, 2022 related to the eligibility of giving licence for selling alcohol in a particular area of the country.
The court issued a rule upon the concerned bodies of the government to explain as to why the Sections 7(2), 7(4), 9(3), 15(2)(Ka) and 15(2)(Cha) of the Alcohol Control Rules, 2022 should not be declared void .
Home Secretary, Law Secretary, Health Secretary, Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services have been asked to comply with the rule.
The High Court bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice S M Maniruzzaman passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by two Supreme Court lawyers including Barrister Mar-E-um Khandaker.
Advocate Taimur Alam Khandaker appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the writ petitioners.
Earlier on April 20 this year the two lawyers filed the writ petition challenging the legality of the provisions of the Alcohol Control Rules, 2022 which was formulated under the Narcotics Control Acts, 2018.
The Home Ministry has recently published new rules of the Narcotics Control Acts 2018 allowing setting up bars at hotels and making 21 the lowest age for drinking alcohol. The government issued a notification that was published in the Bangladesh Gazette on February 5 to this end.
According to the new Alcohol Control Rules, consumption and usage of alcohol will need official permission while a maximum of three units of alcohol can be sold at a time and seven units in a month to permission holders, except in special cases.
It also says that five star and above ranked hotels will need to get licences to set up seven bars while four star hotels may have the permission to set up to three bars, three star hotels two bars and two-star hotels one bar.
It says that carrying and transportation of alcohol will also need pass, while the import-export, production, processing, supply, marketing, sale, purchase and storage of alcohol to need licenses.
Conditions have been set for establishing bars in hotels, restaurants and clubs having at least 200 permit holders, or at export processing zones, theme parks, and government development projects, where foreign nationals reside.
Restaurants, hotels, clubs or bars will be able to buy 40 per cent of their required alcohol from Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation by paying duty-taxes at regular rates or through import. The rest 60 per cent alcohol can be collected from local sources.
