New Delhi, Aug 7 : The report of the inquiry regarding the alleged fraud in the newly introduced excise policy in Delhi is a long look with the arbitrarily and unilateral decisions made by the Minister and Excise Department officials that resulted in huge financial losses for the exchequer, an official at the LG office on Sunday. The source informed IANS that the conclusions of the report of inquiry on the taxation of import pass fees and the margin of profit in the case of liquor from outside the country, the reduction in the amount of dry days as well as the illegal extension of the excise policy expose the of the government’s lies of the government over the claim of earning huge revenue.
The source claimed that, as per the Vigilance Report officials of the Excise Department neither took approval of the Council of Ministers nor opinion of the LG before releasing the order of 08-11-2021 revision of the formula of calculation of rates of foreign liquors and the abolition of the levying of import pass fees of Rs 50 per case for beer.
It was observed that by implementing this reductions in wholesale costs, the cost of alcohol and foreign liquors in the retail licence (L7Z) was decreased, he said.
The Finance Department vide note dated 28-10-2021, suggested that the Excise Department may place the comparison statement regarding the impact on the excise revenue of the government, the impact on MRP and profit margin of wholesalers, as well as the profit margin of retailer as a result of modifications proposed before the Group of Ministers (GoM) to take a decision.
“However the Deputy Chief Minister, on 01.11.2021 rejected the suggestion of Finance Department and recorded that the plan of Excise Department is reasonable and therefore approved.Ratifications will be taken in the future by the GoM and the Cabinet,” said the source.
“Had the financial consequences of proposed changes to lower the cost of alcohol and foreign liquors been shared with the bidders (thus decreasing their input costs) and they could have quoted a the higher license fee to the government” he said.
Concerning the reduction of the amount of dry days, from 21 in the calendar year 2021 to just 3 days in 2022 In the inquiry report, it is stated that “it is noted that the department has cut down the amount of dry days from 21 in the year 2021 calendar to 3 days in 2022, without obtaining the an approval of the Council of Ministers and without getting the an opinion of the LG”.
According to the report, the Director of Excise Department of the Excise Department in 2015 had suggested cutting down the number of dry days to three, based on the principles of the practice of the neighboring states.
“It is observed that the suggestion to reduce the amount of dry days was rejected by the Deputy Chief minister on 11.12.2015 without citing a reason it was again approved by him on was agreed to by the Deputy Chief Minister on 06.01.2021 without even requiring the approval of the Council of Ministers,” is the report according to the source.
However in the event that Delhi is expected to return to the previous system of excise policies, the old norms of 21 dry days are likely to return.
Thirdly, in the process of expanding the L7Z license however, there was no endorsement of the Council of Ministers and opinion of the LG was sought according to the source.
“It is noted that the duration of the L7Z licenses was extended initially beginning at 01.04.2022 until 31.05.2022 by officers of the department in a letter the date of 28.02.2022 Then, it was extended from 01.06.2022 until 31.07.2022 without the permission of the Council of Ministers and without getting the an opinion of the LG,” the source stated.
“Similarly the duration of L1 licensees was extended initially from 01.04.2022 until 31.05.2022 Then, it was extended between 01.06.2022 up to 31.07.2022 through the officials of the Departments by the order of 24.05.2022 without the permission of the Council and the opinion of LG,” the source claimed in the report.
The source claimed that such an extension, without an increase in the fee for licences is in contradiction to the plan that was presented to and adopted by the Council of Ministers dated 23.06.2021 in which the departments suggested that, at the time of the end of 2021-22, the fee for licences could be increased after taking into consideration the actual time-based sale data.
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