Delhi excise dept extends licence period for sale of country liquor

The L-3 licence is issued for wholesale vending of country liquor and the L-33 licence is issued to warehouses for storage of country liquor. According to officials, the department has decided to extend these licences so that licence holders can recover the losses they faced during the lockdown in January.

“The competent authority is hereby conveyed regarding extension of L-3/33 license for supply country liquor in GNCT of Delhi for a further period of 01 (one) month till July 31. The extension is subject to payment of pro-rata fee for the extension period,” read the order issued by the excise department.

Officials said L-3 licence holders who wish to avail of this extension, for sales of their registered brands at existing prices, are required to deposit a month’s fee – licence fee, BWH fee and any/all other fee as applicable on a pro-rata basis – in advance. “However, any person holding such non-renewable licence shall not be under any obligation to accept such an offer to extend its licence,” read the order.

Further, according to sources, the revised Excise Policy 2022, which will offer unlimited discounts and home delivery of liquor, is currently with the Delhi government and is yet to be moved to the L-G for approval. Sources said the Delhi chief secretary had also asked the department to make some changes in the policy.

Meanwhile, other official sources said that the existing excise policy, which was already extended twice since March, may be extended for one more month. The policy expired on March 31 and was extended till May 31 and later it was extended again till July 31.