The Tamil Nadu government has decided to bring new reforms in the liquor business by appointing an audit team to check overcharging of customers and other issues in the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (Tasmac).
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Chennai:
Though the government set up POS machines at the outlets to curb overcharging, the issue could not be eliminated. A senior Tasmac official told DT Next that the government will enter into an agreement with a private firm to introduce an internal auditing system.
“The selected organisation will be responsible for manual verification of bill book, stock cum sales register, attendance register and verification of details from electronic billing machines at all shops on a daily basis,” he added.
Stating that daily bank transactions such as cash deposits will also be verified, the official said that the staff of the auditing firm will also tally the number of liquor cases sold and the money collected.
“Therefore, staff at the outlets cannot overcharge the customers,” he said, adding “They will also manually verify the attendance register of each liquor shop.”
Pointing out that the bars attached to Tasmac outlets will be monitored by the auditing team, he said, “Bar activities such as food service, cleanliness and fire safety measures will also be monitored regularly by the team and would submit a report to the Tasmac head office.”
“If the auditing team finds anyone violating the law by selling liquor for a higher price, they would be suspended with immediate effect. Likewise, if the report of bar activities were not up to the mark, the licence will be cancelled and a new bar owner will be appointed,” he added
In the recent past, there were a series of complaints across the State that the salesmen at the Tasmac outlets were charging the customers above the Maximum Retail Price (MRP). As on January 31, the State has a total of 5,197 Tasmac outlets with sales touching Rs 97 crore per day.
Though the government set up POS machines at the outlets to curb overcharging, the issue could not be eliminated. A senior Tasmac official told DT Next that the government will enter into an agreement with a private firm to introduce an internal auditing system.
“The selected organisation will be responsible for manual verification of bill book, stock cum sales register, attendance register and verification of details from electronic billing machines at all shops on a daily basis,” he added.
Stating that daily bank transactions such as cash deposits will also be verified, the official said that the staff of the auditing firm will also tally the number of liquor cases sold and the money collected.
“Therefore, staff at the outlets cannot overcharge the customers,” he said, adding “They will also manually verify the attendance register of each liquor shop.”
Pointing out that the bars attached to Tasmac outlets will be monitored by the auditing team, he said, “Bar activities such as food service, cleanliness and fire safety measures will also be monitored regularly by the team and would submit a report to the Tasmac head office.”
“If the auditing team finds anyone violating the law by selling liquor for a higher price, they would be suspended with immediate effect. Likewise, if the report of bar activities were not up to the mark, the licence will be cancelled and a new bar owner will be appointed,” he added