Home delivery of liquor rules after cabinet nod

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, said 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.

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.

...the GoM said home delivery of liquor sourced from retail vends may be allowed. CABINET NOTE