Licensees may not have to set up two vends per zone

NEW DELHI: People in Delhi may be able to order liquor at home like they order food online, if the recommendations of a ministerial group are accepted. According to a 17-page cabinet note approved by a group of ministers led by Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, home delivery may be done through empanelled intermediaries who will collect the liquor from retail vends and deliver them to homes in various localities.

The empanelled agencies will be required to hold requisite licenses and permissions.

The ministerial group has pushed for home delivery of approved liquor to ensure people do not drink spurious alcohol that lead to hooch tragedies, and also check bootlegging and interstate smuggling, according to the cabinet note.

After the cabinet approves the proposals, the excise department will draft rules to implement the home delivery system in adherence with the provisions of Delhi Excise Act, such as ensuring that liquor is not delivered to underage individuals. The planning department has advised that a suitable policy should be framed for home delivery of liquor to factor this in, officials said.

The Delhi cabinet in February last year constituted a group of ministers to initiate state excise reforms under the chairmanship of Sisodia. The group includes ministers of urban development and revenue, and examines all aspects of the current system, report of expert committees, and suggestions and feedback from stakeholders and the public.

“Noting that the concept of home delivery of liquor has been adopted by many states in India and also considering the Covid experience and also to facilitate the customers, the GOM has recommended that home delivery of liquor sourced from retail liquor vends in Delhi may be allowed,” the cabinet note states. HT has seen a copy of the note.

Home delivery of liquor was rolled out in West Bengal, Odisha and Maharashtra to create an alternative route to maintain supplies amid shop shutdowns during the Covid pandemic.

The excise department will also study various models of home delivery of liquor adopted by other states, according to an official, even as the law department has pointed out in the note that home delivery of liquor is a new concept in the country and its pros and cons are still to be tested.

“Even after home delivery is allowed, the government will monitor the mechanism and will issue necessary orders as and when required. Executive orders issued by excise department under Section 4 of the Delhi Excise Act, 2009 will be binding and enforceable under the statute and the licensee will be bound to comply with the executive order issued,” said a Delhi government official, requesting anonymity.

For home delivery of liquor to become sustainable, the government must not make consumers pay more or eat in to profit margins of current supply chain participants, said Vinod Giri, director general of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies, a lobby group.

“States like West Bengal and Odisha had rolled out home delivery system during Covid as an alternative created in order to maintain supplies during shop shutdowns,” Giri said.

“It was an added service...where the cost was passed on to consumers... This obviously is unsustainable when most popular products cost less than ₹500-700 per bottle and consumers are used to discounts in stores. It is our view that in order to succeed, home delivery should not make consumers pay more,” Giri said.

Home delivery of alcohol is possible and preferable, said Subhash Khandelwal, president of Chamber of Trade and Industry, another lobby group. “It will generate additional jobs and will increase the government’s revenue,” he said.

Alok KN Mishra

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government is likely to do away with the mandatory requirement that licensees must have two liquor vends in each municipal ward, officials aware of the matter said.

Though the provision was originally designed to ensure equitable access to liquor in all areas of Capital, it is likely to be dropped in the revised Delhi Excise Policy 2022-23, the officials cited above said.

A cabinet note recently prepared by the finance department said that there are around 100 wards in Delhi in which liquor vends cannot be opened. This is because of restrictions imposed by the Excise Policy and Rules -- such as a bar on liquor vends within 100 metres of educational institutions, religious places, and hospitals.

“In such a situation, keeping it mandatory to open two vends in each of the wards (Delhi has 272 municipal wards) is not practical and it has been recommended that the practice should be discontinued,” said an official, asking not to be named.

The cabinet note, which has been approved by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia as the minister in-charge, said,“considering the constraints in opening of vends in non-conforming wards, the GOM (group of ministers) has recommended that the requirement of opening of mandatory two vends per ward may be discontinued and the licensee shall be allowed to open up to 27 retail vends in any of the conforming wards..”

The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 had triggered a backlash from the opposition parties on this front when it was rolled out in February last year.

Leader of the opposition in the Delhi assembly and BJP MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said the government should roll back the entire policy.

“Liquor outlets have been opened near religious places, schools and hospitals due to which people are angry... The order of the Delhi government to open liquor shops in nonconforming areas was completely against the rules,” said Bidhuri.

Delhi Congress vice-president Abhishek Dutt said, “Liquor stores that opened within 100 metres of religious places, educational institutions and hospitals should be closed.”

THE EXCISE DEPT WILL ALSO STUDY VARIOUS MODELS OF HOME DELIVERY OF LIQUOR ADOPTED BY OTHER STATES