18 liquor shops fail to deposit land lease rent, sealed

Huda warns it would cancel the land lease agreement if liquor shop owners fail to deposit the amount by Tuesday

The Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) on Saturday sealed 18 liquor shops for failing to deposit the land lease rent of financial year 2017-18. The deadline for depositing this amount was April.

Officials of the Haryana Urban Development Authority seals liquor shops in Gurgaon after it did not receive the land lease rent for the year despite sending notices repeatedly.

The Huda allots land to liquor shops on fixed yearly rental in the beginning of every financial year. The liquor shop owners are required to deposit the rent amount in advance.

The shops were sealed on Saturday after the proprietors failed to pay heed to the several recovery notices sent by Huda to deposit the rent amount, forcing the development authority to initiate action.

The shop owners have been given time till Tuesday to submit the rent amount to avoid lease cancellation.

“We will cancel the land lease agreement if liquor shop owners fail to deposit the amount; we have warned them. This is all prescribed in the Huda lease rule book,” Vivek Kalia, estate officer (EO-II), Huda said, adding that some shop owners have started depositing the lease rent. “We received rent from some shop owners on Sunday,” he said.

The excise and taxation department gives licence to operate liquor shops.

“Before this financial year, excise department used to collect land lease rent and would later transfer it to Huda. Now, Huda has itself decided to collect the land lease rent from liquor vendors,” Kalia said.

In May 2017, the Huda survey team had sent notices to liquor shops over encroachments to set up ‘ahatas’—open drinking places. Many vendors continue with the practice.

“It is an open secret that many ‘ahatas’ in the city are in the green belt and, vendors have encroached upon extra space to run these establishments; many are even located close to schools,” said Kalyan Singh, a resident Saraswati Kunj, Sector 53.

Singh said that as per the rule, a liquor shop cannot be allowed to set up its vend in a green belt, on a pavement, near a school, religious sites and residential areas. “But this all is on paper. The excise department, Huda and MCG officials are all aware of these violations.

In Gurgaon, there are 250 liquor shops and 80 liquor vends.