Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, in his capacity as the Excise Minister, had overruled the pruning of the number of dry days in the Capital “without assigning any reason” in 2015 but allegedly unilaterally decided in favour of it after implementation of the revamped Excise Policy 2021-22, the Directorate of Vigilance (DoV) that conducted an inquiry into the matter has said.
The report further states that the new policy had sought to “distort” market prices to “tilt market forces” in favour of select liquor licensees against others in relation to hefty discounts on liquor.
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In December 2015, under the old excise policy regime, the then Assistant Commissioner had proposed to reduce the number of dry days to three from 23 like in the neighbouring States of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana as liquor smuggling occurs on such days, the report stated.
Proposal overruled
The then Principal Secretary (Finance) on 09.12.2015 proposed to hold a meeting so that number of dry days is pruned. However, the Hon’ble Dy. CM overruled the proposal… without assigning any reason” the report stated.
However, following implementation of the new policy, according to the report, two files regarding the number of dry days came into existence for the commission of “some illegal acts”.
“While the proposal for reduction in the number of dry days was rejected by the Hon’ble Dy. CM on 11.12.2015 without assigning any reason, however, this time the same was approved by him on 06.01.2021 without even taking approval of the Council of Ministers” the report stated.
The DoV posited that the Excise Department had extended compensation to liquor licensees in lieu of the closure of vends due to Omicron-related issues between late December, 2021, and January, 2022, allegedly resulting in a loss of ₹144.36 crore to the State exchequer in the form of waivers in license fee.
But the same set of officials “did not undertake any effort to levy additional licence fee” from licensees for “such increased number of sale days” due to a “substantial reduction” in the number of dry days.
L-G office bypassed
The order regarding the pruned dry days, according to the report, was also not communicated to the Lieutenant-Governor for approval and was notified after allegedly bypassing his office by Deputy Excise Commissioner Anand Kumar Tiwari.
In relation to the hefty discounts being offered by liquor retailers, the report noted that a clause was added to the revamped policy to allow “free market pricing” of liquor after it had been approved.
Exiting rules regarding the pricing of liquor, the report also noted, had deliberately been misquoted by government officials who “misused their authority” to “favour certain individuals and distort the market”.
“…the condition that the ‘licensee shall neither give concession, rebate or discount on the sale price of liquor nor shall he give liquor as a gift has been categorically omitted” the report stated.
According to the report, this was replaced by “…The licensee is free to give concession, rebate or discount on the MRP.”
“This prima facie seems to favour certain individuals and distort the market by these officials of the Excise Department. Even the role of the Finance Department cannot he ruled out” the report added.
