- In this Act, unless otherwise required in the context-

(1)

"The Act " means the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016

(2)

"Alcohol " means Ethyl Alcohol having a colourless volatile flammable organic liquid which is producedby a natural or yeastfermentation of sugars and is intoxicating constituent of wine, beer, spirits, and other alcoholic beverages, and is also used as an industrial solvent and as fuel;

(3)

"alcoholic " means a solution or mixture containing alcohol and being of any strength and purity;

(4)

"alcoholic beverage or potable liquor " means any beverage containing alcohol in conformity with the BIS standards which may be intoxicating and is fit for human consumption;

(5)

"beer " means any liquor prepared from malt or grain with or without addition of sugar and hops and includes beer, ale, stout, porter and such other substances;

(6)

"BIS standards " means standard prescribed by Bureau of Indian Standardsor the standards prescribed by any other Central Government authority, constituted under the relevant Act;

(7)

"Board " means the Board of Revenue;

(8)

"black jaggery " meanscoarse brown sugar made from palm or cane juice ordinarily unfit for human consumption but contains sufficient quantity of fermentable sugar for manufacture of ethyl alcohol;

(9)

"blending " means mixing of two or more spirits which may be of different strengths and different qualities;

(10)

"bonded warehouse " means a licensed private bonded warehouse or a part of public bonded warehouse, established under this Act for storing liquor on which duty has not been paid;

(11)

"to bottle " means to transfer liquor from a cask or other vessel to a bottleor any other receptacle for the purpose of sale, whether any process of rectification be employed or not; and includes re-bottling;

(12)

"bottling plant " means premises where bottling of liquor is done and includes every place therein where it is stored or wherefrom it is issued;

(13)

"brewery " means premises where beer is manufactured and includesevery place therein where beer is stored or wherefrom it is issued;

(14)

"compounding " means the manufacture of alcoholic beverage by addition to spirit of a flavoring or a coloring matter or both;

(15)

"Collector " means Collector-cum-District-Magistrate of a district and includes the Additional Collector-cum-Additional District Magistrate or Deputy Collector or any person appointed by the Government to exercise the powers and perform the functions of the Collector-cum- District Magistrate under the Act

(16)

"country or traditional liquor " means

- plain or spiced spirit made from mahua, rice, gur, molasses or grains;or

- plain or spiced spirit made from silent spirit or extra neutral alcohol;or

- Tari, or

- all fermented liquors, including pachwai, made from mahua, rice , millet or other grains according to native processes.

(17)

"De addiction Center " means a center set up by the State Government to treat the addicts of their addiction;

(18)

"denaturant " means any substance prescribed by rule made under this Act, for admixture with spirit to render the mixture unfit for human consumption, whether as a beverage, or internally as a medicine, or any other way whatsoever;

(19)

"to denature " means to mix spirit with one or more denaturants in such a manner as may be prescribed by rule made in this behalf under this Act, and "denatured spirit " means spirit so mixed;

(20)

"Distillery " means premises where spirit or ethanol is manufactured andincludes every place therein where it is stored or wherefrom it is issued;

(21)

"duty " means the excisable duty or the countervailing duty as mentioned in Entry 51 of List II of Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, or as the case may be;

(22)

"excisable articlesor items " means -

(i) any liquor or intoxicant as defined under this Act; or

(ii) any intoxicating drug; or

(iii) any intermediate/final product that serve as raw material to any alcohol; or

(iv) Any item or substance that can be used as a substitute of alcohol; or

(v) Any item or substance that can be used or consumed for the purposes of intoxication.

(23)

"Excise Commissioner " means the officer appointed under section-5 of this Act;

(24)

"Excise Officer " means the Collector or any officer appointed under Section-6 of the Act;

(25)

"excise revenue " means revenue derived or derivable from any duty, fee, tax, payment (other than a fine imposed by a Criminal Court) or confiscation imposed or ordered under this Act or any other law for the time being in force relating to liquor or intoxicating drugs;

(26)

"ethanol " means a clear, colorless and homogeneous liquid consisting essentially ethyl alcohol admixed with not more than 0.5% by volume of water and conforming to the BIS standard;

(27)

"export " means to take out of the State of Bihar otherwise than across a customs frontier as defined by the Central Government;

(28)

"export out of India " with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means taking out of theState of Bihar to any place outside India;

(29)

"extra neutral alcohol or silent spirit " means spirit as may be specified by the relevant Central Government Authority;

(30)

"Family " means man and his wife living together in a house along with their dependent children;

(31)

"fermented liquor " means liquorobtained by the process of fermentation and includes beer, ale, stout, porter, wine, pachwai, fermented tari and any other similar liquor;

(32)

"foreign liquor " means any liquor imported by land, air or sea into India;

(33)

"final product " means end product of a process along with such other by-product which a bottling plant, distillery, molasses manufactory or any other manufactory may generate as a result of a primary/secondary process and includes liquor, intoxicant,intoxicating drugs, spirit, molasses, ethanol, extra neutral spirit, and such other alcoholic substances.

(34)

"hemp plant " means any plant of the genus cannabis;

(35)

"hologram and holographic sticker " means the label as approved by the Excise Commissioner, containing the batch number of each bottling operation, besides the name of the manufacturer and the brand. Holographic stickersare those stickers, supplied on payment of cost by the manufacturer to the authorized printer(s) through the Excise Commissioner.

(36)

"illicit liquor " means any liquor manufactured or stored or distributed or sold, in contravention of the provisions of this Act or the rules framed there under or liquor on which appropriate duty or fee leviable under this Act or therules framed there under, has not been paid and includes foreign liquor on which appropriate duty or customs has not been paid;

(37)

"import " except the phrase "import into India " means to bring into the State of Bihar other wise than across a customs frontier as defined by the Central Government;

(38)

"import into India " with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means bringing into the State of Bihar from any place outside India;

(39)

"Indian made foreign liquor " means liquor manufactured in India by process of distillation or using alcohol obtained by distillation such as whiskey, brandy, rum,gin,vodka, liqueurs, beerand other low alcoholic beverages but does not include foreign liquor or country liquor ;

(40)

"intoxicant " means -

(i) liquor, or

(ii) Spirit including silent spirit or ENA, or

(iii) Methyl Alcohol, or

(iv) Ethanol, whether denatured or not; or

(v) any substance from which the liquor may be distilled and which is declared by the State Government by notification in the official Gazette to be an intoxicant for the purpose of this Act, or

(vi) intoxicating drug, or

(vii) medicinal preparation as defined under Medicinal and Toilet Preparations (Excise Duties) Acts, 1955 or

(viii) any preparation or ingredient, either medicinal or otherwise, whether solid, semi solid, liquid, semi liquid or gaseous, either made locally or otherwise, that may serve as an alcohol or a substitute for alcohol and is used or consumed for the purposes of getting intoxicated.

(41)

"intoxicating drug " means -

(i) the leaves, small stalks and flowering or fruiting tops of the Indian hempplant (Cannabis Sativa L) including all forms known as bhang, siddhi or ganja

(ii) charas, that is, the resin obtained from the hemp plant, which has not been submitted to any manipulations other than those necessary for packing and transport;

(iii) any mixture, with or without neutral materials, of any of the above forms of intoxicating drug, or any drink prepared there from; and

(iv) any other intoxicating or narcotic substance which the State Government may, by notification, declare to be an intoxicating drug, such substance not being opium, cocoaleaf or a manufactured drug, as defined in section 2 of the Narcotic drugsand Psychotropic substances Act, 1985 (61 of 1985);

(42)

"license " means a license granted under this Act and the rules framed there under;

(43)

"licensing authority " means an officer who is authorized to grant, suspend and cancel license, permit and pass under this Act;

(44)

"Liquor " means country or traditional liquor, Indian Made Foreign Liquor, foreign liquor or any preparation or ingredient, whether solid, semi solid, liquid, semi liquid or gaseous, either made locally or otherwise, that may serve as an alcohol or a substitute for alcohol and is used or consumed for the purposes of getting intoxicated;

(45)

"manufactory "means any sugar mill, distillery, brewery, winery or any establishment distilling, brewing, manufacturing, blending or bottling liquor or intoxicant;

(46)

"manufacture " includes -

(i) every process, whether natural or artificial, by which any intoxicant is produced or prepared (including the tapping of tari producing trees and the drawing of tari from trees),

(ii) redistillation, and

(iii) every process for the rectification, flavoring, blending, or coloring of liquor, or for reduction of liquor for sale;

(47)

"manufacturer " means any person who manufactures any liquor or intoxicants and includes a manufacturer of alcohol;

(48)

"methyl alcohol " means

- the substance having the chemical formula of CH3 OH which is also known as Methanol, carbinol or methyl hydrate and highly poisonous in nature; or

- any mixture, with or without neutral materials of methyl alcohol as defined above containing not less than 0.05% by volume of methyl alcohol and includes wood naptha;

(49)

"Molasses manufactory " means premises where molasses is manufactured and includes every place there in where it is stored or wherefrom it is issued and includes sugar mills;

(50)

"Notification " means a notification issued under this Act and the rules framed there under and published in the Official Gazette.

(51)

"pachwai " means fermented rice, millet or other grain - whether mixed with any liquidor not,and any liquid obtained there from, whether diluted or undiluted; but does not include beer;

(52)

"permit " means an authorization granted under this Act and/or the rules framed there under;

(53)

"place " includes building, house, shop, boat, booth, vessel, raft, vehicle, conveyance or tent enclosure;

(54)

"Public Place " means any place to which public has access whether as a matter of right or not and includes all places visited by public and also includes any open space or any transport, whether public or private;

(55)

"police station " means a police station as defined under clause (s) of Section 2 of the Code of the Criminal Procedure , 1973 ( Act 2 of 1974);;

(56)

"prescribed " means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(57)

"Public Demand " means public demand as defined under Bihar & Orissa Public Demands Recovery Act, 1914 ( Act 4 of 1914).

(58)

[ "Premises " means and includes land and such construction by way of a building, store, shop, hotel, restaurant, bar, booth or any other structure and movable structures including vessel, raft, vehicle and any other movable structure] [Substituted by Bihar Act No. 8 of 2018, dated 30.7.2018.]

(59)

"rectification " includes every process whereby spirit is purified or is colored or flavored by mixing any material therewith;

(60)

"rectified spirit " means un-denatured alcohol, including absolute alcohol, extra neutral alcohol and alcohol derived from malt as may be specified by the BIS standard;

(61)

"Rules " means Rules made under this Act.

(62)

"relevant laws " means the Indian Power Alcohol Act, 1948 (22 of 1948), the Motor Spirit Taxation Act, the Medicinal and Toilet Preparations (Excise Duties) Act, 1955 (16 of 1955), the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (61 of 1985) and such other Acts relevant to the administration of this Act;

(63)

"special duty " means a tax on the import of any excisable article being an article on which countervailing duty as is mentioned in Entry 51 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India is not imposable on the ground merely that such article is not being manufactured or produced in the territory to which the Act extends;

(64)

"spirit " means any liquor containing alcohol obtained by distillation, whether it is denatured or not;

(65)

"spirituous preparation " means -

(a) any medicinal or toilet preparation containing alcohol;

(b) any antiseptic preparation or solution containing alcohol;

(66)

"spurious liquor " means liquor which has been adulterated with an object to bring intoxication and is harmful to consumers;;

(67)

"still " includes any apparatus or part thereof, for distillation or manufacture of spirit

(68)

"State Government " means the State Government of Bihar.

(69)

"tari " means fermented or unfermented juice drawn from Cocoanut, Palmyra, Date or other kind of Palm tree;

(70)

"temporary structure " means any structure which does not require foundation to be erected and is easy to dismantle, very easy to change the configuration of the structure and which cannot be sealed completely for the purpose of this Act

(71)

"transit " means to move from one State to another through the State of Bihar;

(72)

"transport " means to remove from one place to another within the State of Bihar.

(73)

"warehouse " means a place where storage of liquor or intoxicant is permitted and includes the relevant part of the manufactory;

(74)

"wine " means afermented juice of grapes or other fruits with or without the addition of sugar or jaggery containing self-generated alcohol and includes fortified wine;

(75)

"winery " means-premises where wine is manufactured and includes every place therein where wine is stored or wherefrom it is issued.