Tag Archives: Government

In Landmark Change – Tamil Nadu Govt allows serving alcohol at Stadiums, Conferences, Events & Celebrations

The Tamil Nadu DMK government has issued a notification dated March 18, 2023 amending the Tamil Nadu Liquor (Licence and Permit) Rules of 1981 to allow the serving of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and Imported Foreign Liquor to guests, visitors and participants, at international and national summits and events like conferences, celebrations and festivals.

According to the amendment, a special licence would be granted annually by the Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner of the Excise Department to supply liquor in commercial premises like conference halls, convention centres, marriage halls, banquet halls, and sports stadiums. However, on April 24th, 2023 the Tamil Nadu government amended and removed marriage halls and banquet halls from the list of commercial premises where liquor was allowed to be supplied.  

As per the amendment, the special license for possession and supply of liquor can be obtained by paying an annual registration fee of Rs. One lakh in corporation limits, Rs. 75,000 in municipality limits and Rs. 50,000 in other places. Subsequently, the fee per day for issue of permit for conducting one event, whenever conducted, is Rs. 11,000 in corporation limits, Rs. 7,500 in municipalities and Rs. 5,000 in other places respectively.

The amendment also said that special license for one time possession and supply of liquor in non-commercial premises during conduct of household celebrations, functions, parties etc is Rs. 11,000, Rs. 7,500 and Rs. 5,000 in corporations, municipalities and other places respectively.

The new rules state that the licensee shall obtain supplies from the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC) wholesale depot nearest to the place of events or from such other source as the Deputy Commissioner / Assistant Commissioner (Excise) may appoint or approve, subject to such conditions as he or she may stipulate and as per the quantity of the supplies approved by them. All such applications have to be made online, prior to seven working days from the date of conduct of the event to the Deputy Commissioner / Assistant Commissioner (Excise) in the districts in Form F.A.1.14, along with a copy of the challan of the fee remitted. Then these designated officers will grant a license in Form FL-12 with prior approval of the District Collector.

The issue of liquor under FL-12 special license may be in pegs / bottles for consumption, the Amendment said.

As per the amendment, the licensee has to transport the liquor after obtaining the transport permit in form FTP . 1 from the Deputy Commissioner  / Assistant Commissioner (Excise) of the concerned district. The transport from the source of supply to the licensed premises shall be in accordance with the provisions of these rules.  However, the amendment does not mention any fee for obtaining transport permit.

Further it said that a no-objection certificate from the Commissioner of Police, for events held within corporation limits and from the Superintendent of Police for events held in districts, should be obtained.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Electricity, Prohibition, and Excise V Senthil Balaji announced in the Tamil Nadu Assembly that the government would be deciding on the closure of 500 liquor shops across the state within this year. He mentioned that 96 shops run by TASMAC had violated norms. There are 5,329 retail liquor shops run by TASMAC.

“We are following the norms that other states are following. The IPL management had sought permission to serve liquor in the stadiums during the matches. Considering such international sports and events, we have decided to grant permission,” the minister said.

Opposition Condemns Move

Opposition parties condemned the move of allowing special liquor permits. The Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President K Annamalai said in a statement that this was an effort to increase the income of distilleries run by DMK leaders. “The DMK came to power by giving assurances that it would close liquor factories and retail shops, but Tasmac is trying to boost the sale of liquor each year by fixing a ceiling limit without bothering about the people. This move will lead to social disorder.”

Around the same time, the Pattali Makkal Katchi filed a public interest litigation at the Madras High Court and the spokesman of the party, Advocate K Balu, termed the move “highly condemnable”. He said the G.O. amending Tamil Nadu Liquor (Licence and Permit) Rules 1981 is illegal, unjust and against the public interest.

“The FL 12 special licence for serving liquor at conference halls, convention centres, marriage halls, banquet halls and sports stadium is contrary to the 2017 guidelines issued by Supreme Court to protect the life of citizens under Article 21 of the Constitution,” he said. Serving liquor in public event venues would cause nuisance to the public and deprive them of their right to peaceful life, the petition said.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami tweeted “The same DMK government, which says prohibition is the only goal, has kept liquor shops open for 12 hours. Now, it has allowed liquor in marriage halls and sports stadiums.” 

DMK’s allies, MDMK general secretary Vaiko and CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan also urged the government to abandon the move. Other parties, including PMK, TMC(M), AMMK and VK Sasikala have condemned the notification.

Excise takes a hit in Delhi; Political battle between AAP and BJP

• Delhi government discontinues Excise Policy 2021-22 from August 1, 2022

• 468 private liquor shops operating in the city, shut from August 1 as licenses expire on July 31

•  Mad rush at liquor vends as supply chain affected

It is a massive political battle out in the National capital between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the casualty has been the liquor industry. While the battle rages on, there is short supply of liquor and with private vends closing down, there is mad rush for liquor of whatever that is left.

As such Delhi was experiencing short supply of liquor for some months now, but the government did not really pull up its socks.

While the situation was such, came another shocker for the AAP government when its Chief Secretary on July 8 reported that there has been ‘deliberate and gross procedural lapses to provide post tender undue benefits to liquor licensees for the year 2021-22’. The Chief Secretary’s report also pointed out to prima facie violations of GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules 1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009 and Delhi Excise Rules – 2010. 

Based on the Chief Secretary’s letter and the corruption murmur in the capital, the Delhi Lieutenant Governor,
Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). 

Alcobev industry at its wits end

The alcobev industry which had hailed the Delhi Government’s new Excise Policy 2021-22 is at its wits end with the political battle going on. Many industry experts had hailed the policy but had complained that implementation was the stumbling block.

AAP blames BJP for the crisis

However, the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia in a press conference has put all the blame on the BJP for the excise crisis, stating that private vendors were threatened by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI, forcing them to shut shop. The BJP, on the other hand, has alleged that the Delhi Government had doled out licenses to private vendors on a quid-pro-quo basis, charging AAP of large scale corruption. The two parties are leveling charges against each other while the alcobev sector and the end-consumer has to bear it all.

Government vends would be revived: Sisodia

Manish Sisodia said that the government vends would be back from August 1 as private vends were ‘scared’ to venture into this business. The number of government vends, would not exceed 850. Stating that there was an orchestrated campaign by the BJP to fail the new excise policy, he said only 468 shops were running and that number would further reduce drastically from August 1. “Their (BJP) plan is to stop legal sale of liquor and promote illegal sale of liquor in which the BJP has stake of thousands of crores of rupees,” he said and referred to the Gujarat model where there is prohibition, but illegal liquor trade is strong, leading to illicit liquor, consequently to hooch tragedies.

Citing that the AAP government had planned it’s vends to cater to the population without exceeding the number of vends from 850, he cited how in BJP-ruled States the number of vends was higher, thus encouraging liquor trade, both legal and illegal. There was one outlet for over 4,000 people in Gurugram; one for over 12,000 people in Bangalore; one for over 700 people in Goa, while in Delhi it was one outlet for over 22,000 people.

Another reason for the BJP to derail the Delhi policy, he said was as the former feared that the state revenue would jump from `6000 crore to `9,500 crore which would mean the success of the new policy.

BJP holds Sisodia responsible

Meanwhile, the BJP has upped its ante charging the AAP led government of corruption to which the Delhi Chief Minister has termed it as ‘false and that the BJP was afraid of AAP’s growth’. The BJP said the Excise Department, which is headed by Sisodia, reportedly gave a waiver of `144.36 crore to the licensees on the tendered license fee citing pandemic as an excuse. 

Policy was to give enriching customer experience, now going back to government vends

The 2021 policy was to pave the way for a range of sweeping reforms to boost excise revenue, crack down on the liquor mafia and to improve customer experience. The Government wanted to provide a ‘decent standard of customer experience commensurate to the stature of the National Capital’ and one of the most noticeable changes was abolishing the iron grills in front of the shops. The policy amendment also allowed for online sales in sync with the ‘new normal’.  There is no mention of what would happen to online sales, considering that the supply chain itself is adversely affected.

Framework for grant of licenses

The process of granting of the license was to ensure equitable coverage so that there is no instance of un-served and underserved areas in Delhi including Non-Conforming Areas. The number of retail liquor vends had been limited to 849, including five super premium retail vends, but absolutely no Government owned liquor vends for IMFL/FL.

The policy had ended on May 31 but extended by two months offering the retail licensees chance to renew their licenses paying fees on the pro rata basis for the extra period. However, many license holders did not opt for the extension and shut shops as they were already finding it difficult to reach break even after paying high license fees, some liquor traders have claimed.

Then there was the issue of some retailers giving massive discounts up to 40% to consumers while some big players offered ‘buy one, get one free’ schemes. The government intervened and capped the discount at 25%, but some retail shops went beyond that, some in the trade have complained.

Excise policy extant vs Delhi Master Plan rules

Under the excise policy extant, each licensee had to open three stores in each municipal ward. However, out of 272 municipal wards, 100 were non-conforming where the shops could not open due to action by civic bodies against violations of Delhi Master Plan rules, officials said thus leading to inadequate liquor stores.

CIABC hopes the policy will be tweaked

As mentioned there were many good features in the policy but the government failed to implement. The Director General of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC), Mr. Vinod Giri has said that the industry had taken up the matter with the Delhi Government to reduce the size of the zones as to make the trade viable. He said by doing that it would have reduced the financial stake of licensees, improved loss bearing capacity and prevented monopolies. He attributed the failure of the policy to bureaucratic apathy towards trade, while the policy per se was good, befitting a modern metropolis such as Delhi. He was hopeful that the policy would be tweaked, but right now the political din has taken over.

There have been many such niggling issues that the Delhi Government did not iron out, while it kept patting itself on its back that it had come up with a ‘great policy’ that eliminated corruption and sale of seconds liquor. But the reality on the ground has been different, where actions did not match the words the AAP government kept bandying about. The capital is going to be mired with this controversy for some time now. The alcobev sector awaits new directives, till then the end consumer will have to find ways to quench his or her thirst.

Kerala Government allows pubs, wine parlours in IT parks, tweaks policy

The Kerala Government has approved setting up pubs and wine parlours in IT parks across the state. The State Cabinet which met recently announced a new liquor policy for the financial year 2022-23 which aims to increase the number of retail outlets in the state to bolster its exchequer. In the last five years, God’s Own Country received `46,546.13 crores through the taxation on liquor.

The government revealed to a RTI that it had collected Rs. 766 crores monthly as tax on liquor which meant that tipplers paid as much as Rs. 25.53 crore as tax on liquor. The highest revenue from the tax on liquor was collected during the period of 2018-19 and 2019-20. A total of Rs. 9,615.54 crore was collected in 2018-19 and Rs. 10,332.39 crore in 2019-20. There was dip in sales of liquor due to the pandemic in 2020-21. The Kerala State Beverages Corporation (BEVCO) posted a loss of Rs. 1,608.17 crore in revenue during 2020-21.

Hence, the government which was toying with the idea of opening up retail vends at different places has tweaked the policy. Now, BEVCO and Consumerfed outlets will be started in those areas which are safely away from populated and residential areas. The demand for allowing pubs in the IT sector has been a subject of debate for some time.

The IT sector in the state was demanding to change its policy on the matter. It is learned that the pubs will have facilities of five-star luxury hotel. The Pinarayi Vijayan government tweaked the liquor policy enabling the opening of more retail outlets and the biggest gainer appears to be the IT parks in Kerala, where special earmarked areas will be provided where IT buffs can have a drink.

Incidentally, the liquor policy of the Kerala government is an annual ritual, when the rules are made for the new fiscal and become applicable from April 1 every year.

The biggest gainer appeared to be the three IT parks in the state, where over one lakh professionals are employed at Technopark, Kochi Infopark and the Kozhikode IT park.

The State Excise Minister MV Govindan pointed out that there has been a long-standing demand from IT professionals for a lack of facilities for recreation. “It has been decided to allow sanction for special licenses to these parks where specially marked areas will be there in the park and facilities will be available for consumption of liquor under strict norms,” said a statement from the Minister.

The government also is giving permission to produce liquor with low alcoholic content or wine from the cashew apple, pineapple, jackfruit and nutmeg. Similar to what Delhi did, Kerala intends to allow buying of foreign liquor from the outlets without queues. The decision to increase the production of liquor in the existing units and launch new units has been taken to address the issues in the production of Indian-made foreign liquor and beer.

The government said that it was taking measures to escalate the production of Jawan rum of Travancore Sugars and start manufacturing at the Malabar distillery.

Highlights of the policy:

• No hike in brand registration fees for liquor selling in cans and glass bottles
• The government proposes to ban sale of liquor in plastic bottles from 2023-24
• The closed outlets will be reopened as premium shops to reduce the rush in existing outlets
• Grant of bar licenses will be only to three-star hotels and above
• Kerala Toddy Industry Development Board will be revived and soon licenses will be issued to operate toddy shops from 2022-23
• Track and trace systems will be introduced for production of liquor and inter-district/intra-range transport
• Beverages corporation will launch liquor-related industries in the state
• All services provided by the Excise department will be made available online from April 1
• Computerisation of foreign liquor outlets
• More vehicles and 100 pistols will be delivered to the excise circle offices of eight taluks
• Mobile app titled ‘Peoples Eye’ to lodge complaints about the trade, stocking and consumption of illicit liquor
• Increase the posts of women civil excise officers
• Appoint 100 youth from scheduled tribes as civil excise officers