The UT excise and taxation department’s ninth attempt to auction the unsold liquor vends on Monday proved to be a flop show, with not one of the 22 remaining vends getting auctioned, a repeat from the eighth round on April 27.
The auction for the 22 remaining vends was held after slashing the reserve price by a significant 25%.
Through nine auctions, held on different dates since March 14 after multiple reductions in reserve price, the department has been able to auction 73 of the total 95 vends in the city, while 22 remain unsold.
In contrast, last year, the department had sold 93 of the total 96 vends through seven rounds of auctions.
A senior officer of the department said another auction will be held soon after slashing the reserve price further.
For financial year 2023-24, the department has fixed a revenue target of ₹830 crore from liquor vends’ licence fees. Having earned only ₹400 crore so far, it is staring at a revenue gap of ₹430 crore.
Darshan Singh Kler, the owner of Kler Wines, who bought six liquor vends in the first auction, said holding more auctions will be a futile exercise until the administration amended its excise policy.
{{/usCountry}}Darshan Singh Kler, the owner of Kler Wines, who bought six liquor vends in the first auction, said holding more auctions will be a futile exercise until the administration amended its excise policy.
{{/usCountry}}Liquor contractors have maintained that the poor response to the auctions is due to the Punjab excise policy offering more perks than that rolled out by Chandigarh.
Among them is lower VAT, excise fee and licence fee. Besides, UT has also fixed quota at 18 lakh liquor boxes a year, which means unlifted liquor cases will lead to a penalty. The penalty is ₹900 per case for Indian made foreign liquor and ₹3,500 per case for foreign liquor. In contrast, Punjab has an open quota with no compulsion.