Appeals Court to hear petition against use of rice and sugar in beer production in October

The Court of Appeal has ordered that a writ petition seeking a directive preventing the Commissioner General of Excise and others from granting approval to beer manufacturers to use rice and sugar as the primary raw materials in beer production be called on October 02 for the filing of objections.

The writ petition was taken up before a Court of Appeal BENCH comprising Justices R. Gurusinghe and Annalingam Premashankar, Ada Derana reporter said.

During the hearing, President's Counsel K. Kanag-Isvaran, Sumathi Dharmawardena, and Ali Sabry, appearing on behalf of several respondent liquor manufacturing companies, requested court to grant a date to file objections to the petition.   

Accordingly, the Bench granted the respondents leave to file objections and fixed the matter for further hearing on October 02, 2026.

The petition was filed by a group of licensed liquor vendors, naming the Commissioner General of Excise, relevant Excise officials, the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI), the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) among the respondents.

The petitioners contend that under Section 2 of the Excise Ordinance, "beer" is defined as a fermented alcoholic beverage made from malt. However, they claim that information has emerged indicating that many manufacturers currently use rice and sugar as the primary raw materials in beer production.

They argue that this practice is inconsistent with the provisions of the Excise Ordinance.

The petitioners further state that, given the substantial public subsidies provided by the government to support domestic rice production, diverting rice for commercial beer manufacturing would have a detrimental impact on the national economy and undermine the country's efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production.

The petitioners also allege that the Sri Lanka Standards Institution has failed to adequately update the standards framework governing alcoholic beverage production to reflect current requirements.

Accordingly, the petitioners have sought an order preventing the Commissioner General of Excise and the other respondents from granting approval for the use of rice and sugar as the primary raw materials in beer production.