Delhi’s hotels, clubs and restaurants (HCRs) are worried about the future of their liquor licences despite the Delhi government’s announcement that the current excise policy would be extended by one month for a more seamless transition and to maintain the consistency of the liquor vends’ operations.
In the meantime, Delhi’s bars and liquor stores were shut since the Delhi administration wanted to prolong the Excise Policy (2021–22) from August 1 to 31 but Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena had not yet given his approval. The policy’s expiration date was July 31, and unless an extension is authorised, it will be illegal to sell alcoholic beverages.
According to officials, LG Saxena has not yet reviewed and authorised the file. He is supposed to do it on August 1 itself. The licence won’t be renewed unless the LG gives the AAP government permission to carry out its decision in practice.
Beer Cafe founder Rahul Singh claims that Delhi would completely ban on-site alcohol sales if the deadline was not extended before August 1. In such a scenario, he claimed, restaurants, taverns, bars, and clubs would have to stop supplying alcohol. Singh continued, saying that everyone would suffer greatly, including customers, the government, businesses, and their staff. There will be chaos.
Manish Sisodia, the minister of excise and finance in Delhi, had already declared on Saturday that the nation’s capital will resume the previous excise regime and that only government vendors will sell alcohol beginning on Monday. But in the late evening, the government declared that the current policy will be extended by one month.
Nevertheless, a number of restaurant owners asserted that, should the extension materialise in the next day or two, the problem won’t be as severe as what the retail booze stores will experience. Many of them always have a stock of more than a month to serve their customers.
The new excise policy (2021–2022) requires HCRs to select alcohol from shops rather than wholesalers. This means that HCRs will have to purchase alcohol from shops for one month as they have for the previous eight. Hotels, clubs, and restaurants will only be required to begin buying their booze straight from wholesalers on September 1 as was the custom under the previous excise scheme.
