Brief - The Cabinet Decision to Ban Women from Purchasing Liquor is Unconstitutional

Abstract

The submission includes a draft brief on “The Cabinet Decision to Ban Women from Purchasing Liquor is Unconstitutional”.

Women are permitted to purchase liquor. On 10 January 2018, the Minister of Finance and Mass Media issued Excise Notification No. 02/2018 under the Excise Ordinance, No. 8 of 1912 (as amended). The new Notification amends Excise Notification No. 666 of 31 December 1979, and removes the ban on the sale of liquor to women ‘within the premises of a tavern’. A tavern is usually defined as ‘a place of entertainment…[or] a house for the retailing of liquors to be drunk on the spot’. Women are therefore entitled to purchase liquor under Sri Lankan law as at 10 January 2018. Moreover, Excise Notification No.666 does not appear to prohibit women from purchasing alcohol in premises that do not constitute a tavern (e.g. supermarkets). Thereby the brief goes on to discuss equality before the law, cabinet decision in question is unconstitutional and the imminent infringement of a fundamental right in relation.