Haryana new booze rules: No highway ads, no quick roadside purchase, no vends in villages

The Haryana Cabinet on Monday approved a new Excise Policy for 2025-27 bringing several key changes including not permitting any liquor sub-vend in villages with a population of 500 or less, stricter restrictions on ads, and ensuring that no vend or theka is directly visible from state and national highways.

No liquor shops to be visible from highways

The Nayab Saini-led government has given a clear restriction on where liquor shops can be located. No liquor shops will be allowed to be directly visible from national or state highways. Even signboards or any kind of advertisement seen from these highways will be treated as violations, the policy read.

Fine up to Rs 3 lakhs

If any liquor vend breaks this rule, it will face steep fines. The first offence will cost Rs 1 lakh, the second Rs 2 lakh, and the third Rs 3 lakh. If a shop continues to break the rules, its license will be cancelled entirely.

No direct pathway to liquor vends

The policy also makes it mandatory that there should be no direct pathway from the highway to the liquor vend to avoid easy access to liquor from highways. This is meant to discourage quick roadside liquor purchases and reduce road-related accidents influenced by alcohol consumption.

No liquor sub-vend in villages with less than 500 people

Also, no liquor sub-vend will be allowed in villages that have a population of 500 or less. According to the new policy, this change is being made to address public concerns and ensure responsible retailing of liquor in small and sensitive rural areas. With this policy, 152 existing sub-vends across the state will be shut down.

The Cabinet has also decided to align the excise policy year with the financial year. This means the new policy will begin on June 12, 2025, and will continue until March 31, 2027.

150 metres away from schools, religious sites

To further regulate liquor availability, the minimum distance between liquor shops and places like schools, colleges, bus stands, and religious sites has been increased from 75 metres to 150 metres.

Ahatas to pay percentage of license fee

As for Ahatas, areas where people can sit and drink, shop owners will now have to pay a percentage of their license fee, depending on the district. In Gurugram, this will be 4 percent; in Faridabad, Sonipat, and Panchkula, 3 percent; and in other districts, 1 percent. Also, an Ahata must now have at least 1,000 square metres of space.

Lastly, liquor vends in cities will no longer be allowed to stay open till 8 am. They must shut down by 4 am.