Chandigarh liquor and wine traders move HC for 'unjust' dumping of double liquor quota of 18 unsold liquor vends - Punjabi News

May 10, 2024 2:37 pm

Chandigarh liquor and wine traders move HC for ‘unjust’ dumping of double liquor quota of 18 unsold liquor vends

Published by: thefactnews

Chandigarh, December 23

Chandigarh liquor and wine traders on Friday once again approached the High Court in the matter related to unjust dumping of double the liquor quota of 18 unsold liquor vends onto the existing 77 retail vends in Chandigarh.

The liquor retail traders under the umbrella of Chandigarh Wine Contractors Association had earlier approached the court regarding the issue of dumping double the amount “Basic Quota” liquor of the 18 unsold liquor vends onto the existing 77 liquor vends. The Court had directed the department to decide the issue of dumping of additional liquor quota matter in 10 days. Now, after the department failed to rectify the unjust decision made and provide a reasoned speaking order in support of itsunjust quota dumping decision, the liquor traders have approached the High Court once again.

To make the 18 unsold liquor vends attractive to prospective investors, the department made amendments to the Punjab License Rules and reduced the liquor quota of the 18 unsold vends by 50%.

Hence the new reduced 50% quota amount became the new “BasicQuota” of the 18 unsold vends as per Annexure “B” of the 2023-24 Excise Policy.

The liquor traders had previously requested the department to allot only the “Basic Quota” of the 18 unsold liquor vends, as is warranted under the Excise Policy 2023-24.

On the contrary, to make for losses due to competition from Punjab Excise Policy, the dept dumped double the amount of the “Basic Quota” of the 18 unsold liquor vends, after the department failed to receive any response to the auctions related to 18 liquor vends.