Mizoram, Gujarat and Nagaland are the only dry states in the country.
The Mizoram state prohibition council under the chairmanship of Excise Narcotic minister J H Rothuama on Thursday decided to form a panel to study the Act and recommend necessary amendments.
The decision to amendthe law has come in the wake of dilution of the state's prohibition policy in past two years.
Once cultivation of grapes started successfully in Hnahlan and Champhai areas, the growers forced the government to allow manufacture, sale and consumption of wine in Mizoram. It was allowed under the Mizoram Excise and Narcotics (Wine) Rules notified in April 2009. This diluted the existing law.
When wines were legalised, Grape Growers Society and Horticulture Department pushed way for the manufacture
and sale of local wine - 'Zawlaidi'. Containing 14 per cent alcohol, it is being sold in the markets freely since October. It further eroded the Act.
It is this dual existence of wine rules and the prohibition law which has forced the government to have a relook at its alcohol
policy.
The government's re-think has also come in the wake of a compaign by rights activists who have alleged that the dry law has become a tool to punish and harass common man, while high-income people go scot-free even as they are well-stocked by regular supplies of Indian Made Foreign Liquor(IMFL) from other states.
''While a well-to-do man of high social status, keeping a case of whiskey go scot-free, a cash-strapped widow always gets caught for a bottle of country-made liquor,'' said Ruatfela Nu, a well-known rights activist.
Legal eagles also say the prohibition law requires changes if it is to enforced effectively. Currently, excise personnel can catch violators of the Act but can not chargesheet them as these powers lies with the police.
Secondly, the Act does not distinquish between small and big violators as seizure of both a glass of liquor or a truck-full of liquor invites the same punishment. Sections on bailable and non-bailable offences also require amendments.