Nagpur: Excise department has always been overzealous to issue liquor licenses to bars and wine shops but now it seems that the officials are ignoring even the basic rules to entertain bar owners.
In a shocking case, excise superintendent Swati Kakde issued liquor license to a Saoner bar owner even before the inspection report was submitted to her. It is this report on the basis of which liquor license is issued and any license given without this document is invalid.
Gunwant Talmale had applied for liquor license for his New Empire Restaurant located in Pipla Dak Bangla, near Saoner, in 2016. His application was rejected on December 27, 2016, as the restaurant was within 500 metres of a national highway. Supreme Court had banned liquor shops and bars near highways at that time.
After the apex court relaxed the ban, Talmale submitted another application to Kakde on September 27, 2017 for liquor license. Kakde should have sought an inspection report from the concerned excise inspector before proceeding further. However, she put up the file before district collector Sachin Kurve on December 27, 2017 and got his approval.
Kakde seems to have realized later she needed an inspection report for supporting the license. Excise inspector DM Badwaik conducted a spot inspection and submitted his report to Kakde on February 14. The superintendent then wrote a letter to Talmale on February 20 informing him that he was being issued a liquor license.
A source in the excise department told TOI that Kakde’s move to seek signature of collector for Talmale’s bar license was illegal in two ways. “The inspection report submitted in December 2016 had recommended against issuance of license to the bar as it was only 56 metres from the national highway. How could Kakde issue a license on the basis of this report,” the source said.
“If the 2016 inspection report was not used for issuing the license then what was the basis for it. Talmale changed the entrance of his bar to circumvent the rules and now it measures 240 metres from the highway against a minimum requirement of 220 metres. This fact is only mentioned in the inspection report submitted in February 2018, two months after the license was approved,” he further said adding the collector should not have signed the document blindly.
Kakde had no explanation for the blatant violation of rules. “You ask the person who provided you these documents to lodge a complaint with me,” she told this correspondent on Monday.
The superintendent had earlier courted controversy when she issued liquor license to Hotel Radisson Blu, which is also located on the national highway.
