The Delhi government has directed operators of the city's hotels, clubs and restaurants serving liquor to verify the age of their clients through hard copies of government-issued identity proofs after violations of the legal drinking age norm were detected.

In Delhi, liquor is served only to persons aged 25 years and above.

The excise department of the Delhi government, during routine inspections by its teams in recent days, found customers younger than 25 years having alcohol at bars, clubs and restaurants.

The inspections also revealed that some customers were consuming liquor pretending to have completed 25 years. Complaints were also received by the department that some excise licensees were serving liquor to underage persons, officials said.

Under the Delhi Excise Act, 2009, no person or licensed vendor or his employee or agent will sell or deliver liquor to any person apparently under the age of 25 years for personal or others' consumption.

The violations of the age restriction norms were reviewed by the department.

"All the licence holders of hotels, clubs, restaurants (HCR) are hereby directed to be more careful and to not serve liquor to any person under the age of 25 years without verifying the age through government-issued IDs," stated a circular issued by the department.

Further, the department has advised the HCR licensees to verify customers' age only with physical IDs instead of virtual ones saved by people on their mobile phones (excluding those in Digilocker portal) to minimise the use of fake or edited digital IDs.

The violation of the legal drinking age norm invites action under the Delhi Excise Act, 2009.

The legal drinking age was a lingering issue in Delhi as it was lower in the NCR cities of Nodia, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Faridabad. Under the excise policy 2021-22, now scrapped, there was a plan to lower the legal drinking age to 21 years but it failed to materialise as the policy itself came under attack over allegations of corruption and violations of rules.

Further, in pursuance of a campaign launched recently by Delhi to make the city drug-free in the next three years, the excise department has directed the licensees to take e-pledge on its official website and conspicuously display the certificate at the hotels, clubs and restaurants.

The department has advised the licensees to create awareness among their staff and customers to cooperate in stopping drug abuse and stay away from its use to have a healthy life.

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