4 min readChandigarhMar 22, 2023 08:06 AM IST
First published on: Mar 22, 2023 at 08:06 AM IST
In yet another jolt to the Chandigarh Administration, only 11 out of 52 remaining liquor vends could go under the hammer in the second round of auction that took place on Tuesday.
Yet again, the UT Administration blamed the Punjab liquor policy for less takers for these vends.
A senior officer of the Chandigarh Administration said, “It is entirely the impact of Punjab policy. But we will keep auctioning the liquor vends till they are sold out.”
Even the liquor vend which fetched the highest revenue was of Khuda Jassu. It was sold for Rs 5,000 more than the reserve price. The reserve price of this liquor vend was Rs 7,56,85,329 and it fetched Rs 7,56,90,000. The vend was taken by one Rakesh Kumar from Smayra International. The second highly priced liquor vend was taken by one Lalit Thakur in Sector 37-D, which was for Rs 7,37,00,019 against the reserve price of Rs 6,20,86,481.
On Tuesday, the UT Administration earned a revenue of Rs 54.85 crore against the reserve price of Rs 51.27 crore, which is about Rs 3.57 crore more than the revenue earned, that is 6.98 per cent more.
Darshan Singh Kler, owner of Kler Wines, who bought six liquor vends in the previous auction, blamed the alluring Punjab liquor policy.
He said, “There is only 1% excise duty and VAT on liquor in Punjab, whereas in Chandigarh, the minimum exercise duty is Rs 445 per case to 2,500 per case on IMFL. Why would people come to Chandigarh? The Chandigarh excise policy is really not at all attractive this time.”
On March 16, the UT Excise and Taxation Department, after failing to auction more than 50 per cent liquor vends, had invited fresh bids for the remaining 52 liquor vends.
The department had failed to auction nearly 55 per cent of its liquor vends in an auction held on March 15. A total of only 62 bids against 43 liquor vends having a reserve price of Rs 202.35 crore was received and the department was able to collect a total revenue of only Rs 221.59 crore.
What happened on March 15
On March 15, only 43 out of 95 vends went under the hammer which happened for the first time in Chandigarh. Experts had attributed the poor response to the ‘attractive’ excise policy of Punjab.
The highest price was fetched by the liquor vend of Palsora that went to Kler Wines for Rs 11.65 crore against the reserve price of Rs 9.60 crore. The second highly priced liquor vend was that of Sector 61 market which borders Punjab area. This liquor vend went to Monarch Wines and fetched Rs 9.55 crore against the reserve price of Rs 9.52 crore.
This time, Chandigarh could earn only half the revenue of what it earned from the auction of vends last year. The auction of a total of 43 vends this time had a reserve price of Rs 202 crore in all and they fetched the UT excise and taxation department only Rs 221 crore while last year, it had earned Rs 420 crore from the auction of liquor vends against the reserve price of Rs 344 crore.
Liquor contractors had blamed the “not-so-friendly” UT excise policy this year as compared to that of Punjab.
Explaining the benefits of the Punjab excise policy, liquor contractors had said that in Punjab, there was an open quota, but in Chandigarh, they had fixed liquor quota of 18 lakh liquor boxes for a year. Also, the rates are uniform in Punjab and Panchkula. Not just this, then there is a high licence fee in the city. There is no deduction in liquor quota, no reduction in VAT, and excise duty.
The next higher bid was for the liquor vend of Sector 48 market which was the third highest. This again went to Kler Wines for Rs 8.95 crore against the reserve price of Rs 6.19 crore.
Even the liquor vend which fetched the highest revenue was of Khuda Jassu. It was sold for Rs 5,000 more than the reserve price. (Representational) 
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