Delhi government makes a U-turn, reverts to old policy of retail liquor sale
With this announcement, private liquor shops will shut from 1st August.
Soon after the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi proposed a probe to be conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) amidst the irregularities suspected in the implementation of the new excise policy, Delhi’s AAP government decided to go back to the previous regime of retail liquor sale in the capital city.
Deputy Chief Minister and head of the Excise department of the Delhi government Manish Sisodia, instructed the department to switch to the old regime of the excise policy for a period of six months till a fresh policy is finalized. The Excise Policy 2021-22, which has already been extended twice since March 31 for a period of two months each, will cease on July 31 resulting in the closure of almost 468 private liquor shops.
If sources are to be believed, Delhi Chief Secretary’s report regarding the excise policy 2021-22 mentions the breach of the Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR) 1993, the Delhi Excise Act 2009 and the Delhi Excise Rules 2010 amongst other significant irregularities.
To Sisodia’s effect, the finance department directed the excise commissioner to organize and synchronize with the heads of four corporations of the Delhi government namely Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC), Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store (DCCWS) and Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation (DSCSC) which were running almost all of the Delhi’s liquor shops before the new excise policy came into effect.
Under the new policy, 849 licences were issued through open bidding to private firms. While earlier, of the total 864 liquor shops in Delhi, 475 were run by the four state-run corporations, while the remaining 389 were by private ownerships.
Earlier Sisodia said, “We brought a new liquor policy to stop corruption. Before that government used to get around Rs 6,000 crore in revenue from 850 liquor shops. But, after the new policy, our government would have got more than Rs 9,000 crore with the same number of shops.” However, the report by Delhi’s Chief Secretary indicated otherwise which was highlighted by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena who said that the new policy had “deliberate and gross procedural lapses” to provide post tender “undue benefits to the holders of these liquor licences”.
