Chapter I PRELIMINARY

(1) This Act may be called the Delhi Excise Act, 2009. (2) It extends to the whole of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. (3) It shall come into force on such date as the Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— (1) "alcohol" means ethyl alcohol of any strength and purity having the chemical composition C2H4OH; (2) "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; (3) "alcoholic strength by volume (% vol.) of a mixture of water and alcohol" means the ratio of volume of alcohol, measured at 20°C, contained in the mixture to the total volume of the mixture; (4) "appellate authority" means the Deputy Commissioner, the Excise Commissioner, or the Financial Commissioner, as the case may be, for the purposes of this Act; (5) "authorized officer" means an officer authorized to exercise and power or to perform any duties and functions conferred on or imposed under this Act; (6) "Assistant Commissioner" means an officer appointed by the Government as Assistant Commissioner of Excise under section 5 of this Act; (7) "beer" means alcoholic beverage prepared from malt or grain with or without addition of sugar and hops and indudes black beer, ale, stout, porter and such other substance as may be notified by the Government; (8) "BIS standards" means standard prescribed by Bureau of Indian Standards or the st ndards prescribed by any other Central Government authority, constituted under the relevant Act; (9) "black jaggery" means coarse brown sugar made from palm tree or cane juice ordinarily unfit for human consumption but contains sufficient quantity of fermentable sugar for manufacture of ethyl alcohol; (10) "blending" means mixing of two or more spirits which may be of different strengths and different qualities; (11) "blended warehouse" means a licensed private bonded warehouse or part of a public bonded warehouse, established under this Act for storing liquor on which duty has not been paid; (12) "bottling" means transfer of liquor from a cask or other vessel to a bottle or other approved receptade for the purpose of sale whether any process of rectification be employed or not and includes rebottling; (13) "bottling plant" means premises where bottling of liquor is done and includes every place therein where it is stored or wherefrom it is issued; (14) "brewery"means premises where beer is manufactured and includes every place therein where beer is stored or wherefrom it is issued; (15) "compounding" means the manufacture of alcoholic beverage by addition to spirit of a flavouring or colouring matter or both; (16) "counterfeit liquor" means a liquor in respect of which— (a) there is any violation of any right under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 (47 of 1999) or the Copyright Act, 1957 (14 of 1957) or any other similar Act in force, or (b) in respect of which an offence under section 481 or section 483 or section 486 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (XLV of 1860) has been committed; (17) "country or traditional liquor" means plain or spiced spirit which has been manufactured in India from material recognized as base for country or traditional spirit namely mahua, rice, gur, molasses etc. and notified as such liquor by the Government; (18) "Delhi" means the National Capital Territory of Delhi; (19) "denaturant" means any substance completely miscible in spirit and of such a character that its addition renders the material, or any aqueous dilution of it, non-potable; (20) "denatured spirit" means spirit with added denaturant to render it effectively and permanently unfit for human consumption; (21) "Deputy Commissioner" means the officer appointed by the Government as Deputy Commissioner of Excise under section 5 of this Act; (22) "distillery" means premises where spirit is manufactured and includes every place therein where it is stored or wherefrom it is issued; (23) "duty" means the excise 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, special duty; (24) "excisable article" means any alcoholic liquor for human consumption or any other similar article which the Government may declare to be an excisable article; (25) "Excise Commissioner" means the officer appointed by the Government as Excise Commissioner under section 3 of this Act; (26) "excise officer" means any officer or person appointed or invested with powers under this Act; (27) "excise revenue" means revenue derived or derivable from any payment, duty, fee, tax, confiscation or fine, imposed or ordered under the provisions of this Act, or of any other law for the time being in force relating to intoxicants but does not include fine imposed by a court of law; (28) "excise tree" includes the gul, mahua, coconut, palm, palmyra, date, begani or doddasal tree or any other tree, the fermented or unfermented juice of which contains alcohol and from which toddy or any other liquor can be prepared; (29) "export" means to take out of Delhi to any other State within the country; (30) "export out of India" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means taking out of Delhi to any place outside India; (31) "extra neutral alcohol or silent spirit" means spirit as may be specified by the relevant Central Government Authority; (32) "fermented liquor" means liquor obtained by the process of fermentation and includes beer, ale, stout, porter, wine, pachwai, fermented taxi and any other similar liquor; (33) "Financial Commissioner" means the Financial Commissioner of the National Capital Territory of Delhi; (34) "foreign liquor" means any liquor imported by land, sea or air into India; (35) "Government" means the Lieutenant Governor of the National Capital Territory of Delhi appointed by the President under article 239 and designated as such under article 239AA of the Constitution; (36) "illicit liquor" means any liquor manufactured or stored or distriLuted or sold, in contravention of the provisions of this Act or the rules framed thereunder or liquor on which appropriate duty or fee leviable under this Act or the rules framed thereunder, has not been paid and includes foreign liquor on which appropriate duty of customs has not been paid; (37) "import" means to bring into Delhi from any other State of the country; (38) "import into India" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means bringing into Delhi from any place outside India; (39) "Indian liquor" means liquor manufactured in India by process of distillation or using alcohol obtained by distillation such as whisky, brandy, rum, gin, vodka, liqueurs, but does not include country liquor or fermented liquor; (40) "intoxicant" means and includes,— (a) any liquor; (b) any spirit; (c) any intoxicating drug; (d) any other article, which the Government may from time to time declare to be intoxicant, except the substances covered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, for the purpose of this Act; (41) "intoxicating drug" means— (a) the dried leaves of the Indian hemp plant known as bhang, sidd hi or patti or cannabis sativa, (b) any mixture with or without natural materials of bhang, siddhi or patti or cannabis sativa or any drink prepared therefrom; (42) "Legislative Assembly" means the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi; (43) "Licence" means a licence granted under this Act and the rules framed thereunder; (44) "licensing authority" means an officer who is authorized to grant, suspend and cancel licence, permit and pass under this Act; (45) "Lieutenant Governor" means the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi appointed by the President under article 239 of the Constitution; (46) "liquor" means any alcoholic beverage and includes whisky, brandy, beer, wine, toddy, trai, pachwai, vodka, gin, tequila, country liquor, arrack and intoxicating liquid consisting of or containing alcohol as may be specified under BIS standard besides any similar substance which the Government may by notification declare to be liquor for the purpose of this Act; (47) "major and minor offences" (a) major offences mean— (i) adulteration; (ii) sale of non-duty paid liquor, (NDPL); (iii) illicit manufacture, possession, transport, transit and sale of liquor; (iv) rendering denatured spirit fit for human consumption; (v) mixing noxious substance with liquor; (vi) tampering with sealed bottles; (vii) sale to minor, (b) the remaining offences under this Act shall be minor offences; (48) "manufactory" means any distillery, brewery, winery or any establishment distilling, brewing, manufacturing, blending or bottling liquor; (49) "manufacture" includes any process— (a) incidental or ancillary to the completion of manufactured intoxicants, (b) whether natural or artificial, by which any intoxicant is produced or prepared and also re-distillation and every process for the rectification, reduction, flavouring, blendng or colouring of liquor, or (c) which in relation to intoxicant involves packing or repacking of such article in bottle or unit package or labelling or re-labelling of bottles or unit package, including the declaration or alteration of maximum retail price (MIRP) on it or adoption of any other treatment on the intoxicant for sale to the consumers. Explanation: For the removal of doubt, it is hereby clarified that labelling of bottles or unit packages, imported into India or into Delhi, to comply with statutory requirements shall not be construed as manufacture; (50) "manufacturer" means any person who manufactures intoxicants and includes a manufacturer of alcohol subject to excise duty under the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944); (51) "molasses" means heavy viscous liquid produced, in the final stage of manufacture of gur or sugar including khandsari, sugar from sugar cane or (52) "MRP" means the maximum price at which the liquor may be sold to the ultimate consumer and shall include all taxes, freight, transport charges, commission or trade margin payable to dealers, and all charges towards marketing, delivery, packing, forwarding and the like, as the case may be; (53) "notification" means a notification issued under this Act and the rules framed thereunder and published in the Official Gazette; (54) "officer-in-charge" means the excise officer authorized to supervise and control manufactory or warehouse; (55) "pachwai" means fermented rice, millet or other grain, and includes liquid obtained therefrom, whether diluted or undiluted, but does not include beer; (56) "permit" means an authorization granted under this Act and/or the rules framed thereunder; (57) "place" includes a house, building, shop, booth, tent enclosure, vessel boat, raft and vehicle; (58) "police station" means a police station having jurisdiction over the place and any other place, which the Government may, by notification, declare to be a police station for the purpose of this Act; (59) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (60) "rectification" includes every process whereby spirit is purified or is coloured or flavoured by mixing any material therewith; (61) "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; (62) "relevant laws" means the Indian Power Alcohol Act, 1948 (22 of 1948), the Motor Spirit Taxation Act, the Medicinal and Toilet Preparation (Excise Duties) Act, 1955 (16 of 1955), the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (61 of 1985) and such other Acts relevant to excise revenue; (63) "retail price" means the price fixed by the Excise Commissioner for the sale of intoxicant at which the licensee is bound to sell the intoxicants; (64) "retail sale" means sale in quantities not exceeding the limits of sale by retail for any consideration or not; (65) "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 in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution is not imposable on the ground merely that such article is not being manufactured or produced in the territory to which this Act extends; (66) "spirit" means any liquid containing alcohol obtained by distillation, whether denatured or not; (67) "spirituous preparation" means— (a) any medicinal or toilet preparation containing alcohol, (b) any antiseptic preparation or solution containing alcohol, (c) any flavouring extract, essence or syrup containing alcohol; (68) "still" includes any apparatus or part thereof, for distillation or manufacture of spirit; (69) "sub-standard liquor" means liquor, which does not meet the BIS standards and includes liquor whose nature, substance or quality is so affected— (a) by liquor itself, or the package thereof which is composed, whether wholly or in part of poisonous or deleterious substances, (b) by virtue of unhygienic processing or presence in that article of any harmful substance, (c) by substitution of any inferior or cheaper substance whether wholly or in part, (d) by addition of substance directly or as an ingredient which is not permitted, (e) by the presence of any colouring matter preservative other than specified in respect thereof, (f) by the presence of worm, weevil or insect, (g) by virtue of its being prepared, packed or kept under insanitary conditions, or (h) by dilution; (70) "toddy and tari" means fermented or unfermented juice drawn from a coconut, palmyra, date or any other kind of palm tree; (71) "transit" means to move from one State to another through Delhi; (72) "transport" means to move from one place to another within Delhi; (73) "VAT" means tax on sale or purchase of goods referred to in Entry 54 of the State List (List-II) of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution; (74) "warehouse" means a place where storage of liquor is permitted and includes the relevant part of manufactory; (75) "wholesale sale" means sale in quantities exceeding the limit of sale by retail; (76) "wine" means a fermented juice of grapes or other fruits with or without the addition of sugar or jaggery containing self-generated alcohol and includes fortified wine; (77) "winery" means—premises where wine is manufactured and includes every place therein where wine is stored or wherefrom it is issued.