The rules pertaining to storing liquor at home are nebulous and vary between states. Here’s the latest on Tamil Nadu as reported in The Economic Times.
The Tamil Nadu government has increased the legal limit of storing alcohol at home to 12 bottles (750ml) of hard liquor, six each of Indian-made foreign liquor and imported spirits. According to the revised norms by the state commissionerate of prohibition and excise this June, you may also stock 12 bottles of beer (650ml) and an equal number of bottles of wine at home. The new high kicked in after an amendment to the Tamil Nadu Alcohol (Possession for Personal Consumption) Rules, 1996.Â
Up to now, in Tamil Nadu you were permitted to keep at home only one 750ml bottle of IMFL and one bottle of imported alcohol, besides two bottles of beer and a bottle of wine. However, very few were aware of these `permissible limits’. The rules hadn’t been amended for more than two decades. According to an official in the commissionerate, “The rules have been amended keeping with those in other states.“ Yet Tamil Nadu hasn’t caught up with its neighbour, Karnataka. A person in Karnataka can keep 24 bottles of hard liquor (whisky , rum, gin, vodka) and 28 bottles of beer at home.
The government may not come to inspect your bar cabinet, but if you exceed the limit, you can be booked under the Tamil Nadu Liquor Prohibition Act, 1937, said an official at the state prohibition enforcement wing. The penalty can be a minimum fine of Rs 2,000 or more depending on how much liquor is stored.Â
