Demand for one-day liquor licences falls in Gurgaon

Requests for one-day liquor permits in Gurgaon saw a dip after the Supreme Court ban on sale of liquor near highways

Requests for one-day liquor permits in Gurgaon saw a dip after the Supreme Court ban on sale of liquor near highways. Last year, the excise department has issued 48 licences between April 1 and April 24 as opposed to just 68 during the same period last year.

The excise department has issued 48 licences this month as opposed to 68 during the same period last year. (Parveen Kumar/HT File Photo)

According to the excise officials, most of the banquet halls are along state and the national highways and after the liquor ban they have not granted licences to more than 100 establishments.

“We are keeping a strict vigil on venues and will ensure that no lawn or marriage hall is serving liquor without the licence. If they are, strict action will be taken against them,” said HC Dahiya, deputy excise and taxation commissioner (West).

The excise teams are inspecting the establishments before issuing the one-day licence.

“Our team visits the location and checks if the outlet is within 500 metres of the highway,” Dahiya said.

The excise department is also keeping a watch over those applying for the permit — the L12A licence — granted to those who intend to serve foreign liquor in parties held on a commercial basis.

The Haryana excise and taxation department had increased the fee from Rs1,500 to Rs10,000 from April 2015 for the one-day permit in an effort to combat the misuse of the provision.

Commercial venues have to be registered and have to pay Rs25,000 annually. For a one-day permit for each function, they have to pay Rs5,000, while those not registered have pay to Rs 0,000 per function/party and will be limited to five such permits a month.