The Department of Vigilance (DoV) inquiry report claimed that the AAP Government in Delhi extended the Excise Policy from April 1, 2022 to May 31, 2022 and from June 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022 without the consent of the Council of Ministers and competent authority Lieutenant Governor, causing "windfall gains" to licensees and losses to the Delhi Government. Similarly, the Excise Department officials made changes in the policy, reducing the input cost of beer and foreign liquor to the retail licenses without reducing the wholesale
prices.
The DoV report claimed that extension of Excise Policy twice from April 1, 2022 to May 31, 2022 and from June 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022 was allowed without the approval of the Cabinet and the Competent Authority, in this case is the Lieutenant Governor.
Similarly, the period of L1 licensees was extended bot the time without taking approval of the council and without taking opinion LG.
“It is to be noted that such extension without any increase in the tendered licence fee is in contravention to the proposal placed before and approved by the council of ministers dated June, 2021, wherein the departments proposed that at the time of the end of year 2021-22, the licence fee may be increased after considering the real time-based actual sale data,” the report said.
“However, no such exercise was undertaken by the officers of the departments before extending the period of license without any increase in the tendered license fee. Therefore, such extension without any increase in tendered license fee would prima facie lead to undue benefit to such licensee.” it said.
Sources in the Raj Niwas said the Excise Department, on receipt of from Deputy CM for allowing extension of licence period by two months processed the same on file and neither proposed to seek comments of the finance department before issuing such extension order nor took the approval of the council of ministers for extension of the Excise Policy 2021-22,” sources added.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who had earlier projected that the excuse policy will earn a revenue of ` 9,500 crore, accused former LG Anil Baijal on Saturday of modifying liquor policy overnight due to which liquor stores could not open in non-confirming areas, causing a loss of "thousands of crores of rupees" to the Delhi government.
The DoV report further highlighted that officers of the Excise department neither took the approval of the Council of Ministers nor the opinion of the LG before issuing the order on November 8, 2021, for revising the formula of calculation of rates of foreign liquor and removal of levying of import pass fee at the rate of ` 50 per case on beer, noted the inquiry report.
The decision led to a reduction in the input cost of beer and foreign liquor to the retail licensees without reducing the wholesale prices.