Punjab to allot liquor vends through draw of lots

Chandigarh, Mar 14 (UNI) Taking a cue from Haryana and the Union Territory (UT) of Chandigarh, the Punjab government has done away with the auctioning of liquor vends and instead decided to allot vends through draw-of-lots procedure.

The new Excise Policy-2006-07 approved by the state Council of Ministers here today is aimed at ending monopolization and bringing about transparency and providing a level playing ground for interested parties, besides providing quality liquor.The policy also aims at providing cheaper liquor through reduction of duty.

A offical spokesman said in the new Excise Policy allotment of retail vends of Punjab Medium Liquor (PML) and Indian Made Foreign liquor (IMFL) would be made through the system of granting licenses on fixed fee basis by inviting applications.In case there are more than one applicant for a liquor vend,then the system of draw of lots would be followed.

This policy had broadly taken into consideration the requirements of all major stakeholders, that is the consumers, licensees, distillers and the state. The new policy would generate revenue of Rs 1560 crore as against Rs 1520 crore during last fiscal year.

The spokesman said the Excise Policy for the year would bring about rationalisation in the duty structure keeping in view the duty structure in the neighbouring state of Haryana and UT of Chandigarh. As a result of this exercise, the duty on IMFL had been reduced from Rs 39 to Rs 25 per proof litre.

The Value Added Tax (VAT) on liquor had been drastically reduced from 22 per cent to 4 per cent. To make the retail price of beer reasonable and affordable, the import fee on beer has been slashed down from Rs eight to Re one per bulk litre and excise duty on strong beer from Rs 12 to Rs 10 per bulk litre.

The Excise Policy safeguards to prevent inter-state competition amongst the licensees. This had been made possible in the policy as the quota and license fee for licensing units located in the urban areas had been kept at the same level as those in the rural areas. In urban areas, PML vends had been clubbed with L-2 vends with a view to pre-empt unhealthy competition among the PML and IMFL trade.

The excise duty on the sale of liquor by CSD had been reduced from Rs 39 per litre to Rs 25 per litre, giving ex-servicemen and serving defence personnel a relief of Rs 15 crore.

Outlining the salient features of new policy, the spokesman further said each licensing unit would be disposed of individually and applications would be invited from the intending public. One person may apply for as many licensing units as he desires.

In case more than one application was received for one licensing unit, allotment would be made by draw of lots. The draw of lots would be held on a pre-announced date in a transparent manner and in full public view.

The spokesman said members of the public would be randomly called to draw the lots under the supervision of a committee of officers headed by the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner incharge of the concerned district. A representative of the Deputy Commissioner of the district would observe all the proceedings.

The spokesman said there would be a fixed quota for each licensing unit. Against the existing quota of 660 lakh proof litres during the year, a quota of 900 lakh proof liters would be given.

This measure would bring down the incidence per proof liter from Rs 191 to Rs 142 resulting in drastic reduction of prices.

The Excise Policy also aims to increase number of liquor outlets from the existing number of 4312 PML vends and 1345 IMFL vends.

UNI