List of more violators of law to be issued shortly
Imposition of penalty for black-marketing begins
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 19: Taking serious note of violation of various provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Excise Act, 1958 and Liquor License and Sale Rules, 1984, the Excise Commissioner has issued show-cause notices to around 30 liquor licensees before initiating action against them. Moreover, the process of identification of more violators of the law is still going on and action against them will be initiated in the near future.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that during the scrutiny of the record by the office of the Excise Commissioner several liquor licenses were found to have been transferred in gross violation of the Excise Act, 1958 and Jammu and Kashmir Liquor License and Sale Rules, 1984 by deleting original licensees and operating vends without requisite No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the department.
It has also come to the fore that many licenses have been transferred outside the family/legal heirs in gross violation of the provisions of the Rules which deal with issuance of individual licenses. Moreover, it has been noticed that multiple licenses have been issued in favour of certain persons although the Excise Act and the Rules don’t permit the same, sources further said.
Accordingly, the Excise Commissioner J&K Rajesh Kumar Shavan has issued notices to around 30 licensees so far. Of these, show-cause notices have been issued to 19 licensees for violation of Rule 8-A of the J&K Liquor License and Sale Rules, 1984 while as 7 licensees have been issued notices for throwing to winds Rule 18.
Through the medium of these notices these licensees have been asked to file response within a period of four weeks and thereafter proceedings against them will be initiated strictly as per the provisions of the Excise Act and Rules, sources said while disclosing that exercise to identify more such violators is still going on and fresh list(s) will be issued in near future.
Pointing towards Rule 8-A of J&K Liquor License and Sale Rules, 1984, sources said that in a case where a licence is granted to an individual, a member of the family of the licensee may be incorporated as a partner by the Licensing Authority during the currency of a license on an application made in writing by the licensee giving sufficient and cogent reasons and on payment of non-refundable processing fee if the family member is otherwise eligible under these Rules for grant of such license.
However, it has been noticed by the Excise Commissionerate that partners in the licenses have been added outside the family/legal heirs by throwing Rule 8-A to the winds, sources further said.
Similarly, Rule 18 of J&K Liquor License and Sale Rules, 1984 states that no person holding a licence for a distillery may hold any other licence except a licence in form JKEL-8. Moreover, no person holding a licence for a brewery shall hold any other license.
“But, it has come to the notice of the Excise Commissionerate that some persons have managed multiple licenses in blatant violation of Rule 18”, sources said, adding “several persons who have illegally managed transfer of licenses by deleting the original licensees have even been allotted sub-vends as if there is no Act or Rule in Jammu and Kashmir and notices have also been issued to such persons”.
They further said, “the objective behind this detailed exercise is to identify the illegalities committed in Jammu and Kashmir at the behest of liquor mafia and take the corrective measures so that State exchequer doesn’t suffer any more”.
According to the sources, the Excise Department has also started initiating action against those who restored to black-marketing of liquor when the shops were closed in view of COVID-19 lockdown.
On the basis of reports about black-marketing of liquor, the Excise Commissioner had ordered stock verification and the data received during this exercise is being analyzed for initiating action. “In certain cases penalty ranging between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh has been imposed by the department so far”, sources said.
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