Liquor chocolates a strict no-no, in Maharashtra!!
Running A Chocolate business from home …. You make Chocolate 🍫 hmm yummy, liquor 🥃 in chocolate 🍫 then better beware!!
Bought a bar of imported liquor chocolates or made some of these chocolates at home? You may be an offender, according to the law.
In December 2019, a similar raid at Crawford Market had led to liquor chocolates worth ₹18,000 being seized. In 2012, a 53-year-old chocolatier, Preeti Chandrayani, at Worli was raided and detained by the state excise department for making chocolates containing alcohol at home. Chandrayani was detained for possessing around 20 bottles of alcohol without permit, and boxes of chocolates.
“The concept of liquor chocolates is not allowed here… it is a prohibited product, and its possession is illegal and may invite action,” said Kantilal Umap, commissioner, state excise, Maharashtra, adding they had taken action after the sale of these chocolates had come to their notice. He added that the possession and consumption of liquor chocolates was disallowed as they could be consumed by those who are underage.
“(In Maharashtra) liquor is allowed only in forms like IMFL, foreign liquor, beer, wine and not in this form (chocolates)… if a certain form is not permitted, it automatically becomes illegal,” explained Umap. Technically, this means that the possession and consumption of liquor chocolates available at duty-free stores at the international airport is also an offence.
The violations could invite penalties like fines and even imprisonment up to three years, albeit depending on the nature of the offence.
The manufacturing, possession and consumption of liquor chocolates fell in a “grey area.”
“As a policy, Maharashtra does not allow the sale of liquor chocolates. This is because they could be consumed at a mass level by children and minors and lead to social and public health repercussions… when it comes to consumption, there is a loophole as there is nothing that expressly disallows it.
Special Permits and Licenses Rules, 1952, had a provision for manufacture of liquor chocolates. In the mid-1980s, thought had been given to the formulation of a policy for it. However, this idea was dropped considering the pitfalls of allowing alcohol-laced chocolates to be available in the market on a mass scale.
Maharashtra has one of the most stringent excise and prohibition regimes in India. It follows a policy of discouraging liquor consumption through high excise duties and consequently, steeper prices that translate into low sales. But since neighbouring states and union territories like Goa and Daman have comparatively liberal policies and the cheaper liquor, this leads to it being clandestinely brought into Maharashtra. Maharashtra saw prohibition being imposed from 1949 till the 1960s, which led to the underworld get into bootlegging in Mumbai and the state. Although curbs on liquor consumption were gradually eased, legally, one needs a permit to possess and consume alcohol. The legal age for drinking Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) is 25 years, while that for mild liquor-like beer is 21 years. Possession of the annual or lifetime permit allows the holder to stock 12 units of alcohol every month (one unit includes 1,000 ML IMFL or country liquor, 1,500 ML wine and 2,600 ML of beer).
Two districts in Maharashtra—Wardha and Gadchiroli—are under prohibition. The prohibition in Chandrapur was lifted this year.
Precautions are always better especially when Law doesn’t permit us to carry on anything illegal!!
Source: Internet
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