Excise policy clauses by the back door

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, APRIL 23.

Were some of the proposals in the new Excise Policy introduced through the backdoor by a ``handful of bureaucrats'' without the knowledge of their political bosses? Enquiries reveal that some of the proposals in the liquor policy did not come up before the Delhi Cabinet and were made incorporated without the knowledge of the Chief Minister or the Finance Minister.

Significantly, it is also revealed the proposal to do away with the No Objection Certificate (NOC) for opening a liquor vend from the MLAs did not come up for discussion in the Cabinet nor did it form part of the Cabinet note.

Not only this, the issue of acquiring trade mark certification (TMC), which has created a flutter, was also not part of the Cabinet agenda and is reported to have been included by a senior official of the Excise Department later. But what remains a mystery is why the Chief Minister or the Finance Minister preferred to maintain silence over such a serious matter.

While the MLAs have gone hammer and tongs about the proposal to do away with the NOC, the political representatives of the government, who were caught unaware on this issue, have failed to come out with a credible explanation as to how an item which did not form part of the Cabinet agenda was included later on in the policy. Most shocking, no heads have rolled for such a deliberate mistake in the Excise Policy.

It is understood that certain officials in the Chief Minister's Office along with officials of the Finance and Excise Departments and a senior bureaucrat made the changes on their own. Although the real motive behind making these changes, which have far- reaching implications, is not known, it is understood that a son of a senior bureaucrat is presently working with a leading liquor company and the changes have been made to suit the interest of this Uttar Pradesh based company.

On the issue of TMC, it is argued that no proposal came before the Cabinet regarding asking for TMC by all the liquor manufacturers afresh. But this was later included in the policy by a senior Excise official for reasons best known to him. Under this new TMC condition, only a few companies would stand to qualify for selling and supplying liquor in the Capital. It was in 1993-94 that a policy decision was taken that all those registered till this date and previously would stand qualified for TMC. But suddenly this has been done away with and a new clause introduced. This clause, if implemented, would also throw out leading premium brands from the race.

Similarly, it has pointed out, while no policy been formulated nor terms and conditions settled for selling of Imported Foreign Liquor, the Excise Department has come out with a public notice inviting applications for allotting licenses for the wholesale trade. At the same time, no decision has been taken regarding the imposition of Sales Tax on the imported liquor, but a public notice has been issued raising doubts about the intention behind the exercise.

On the other hand, while the Indian Manufactured Foreign Liquor (IMFL) supplies are restricted, under the current policy, not to introduce more than five brands, no such restriction has been put in place for the imported liquor, which is expected to hit the Indian markets after lifting of the Quantitative Restrictions under the WTO regime.

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