IAS officer transferred ‘over crackdown on illegal liquor sale’ is Chandigarh’s new excise commissioner
Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh has been removed as the excise commissioner.

A Chandigarh IAS officer who was shunted out five days after he took action against illegal liquor sale in January will now head the excise department as its commissioner.
Rupesh Kumar, who was removed as an additional excise and taxation commissioner,was on Monday evening given charge of the excise commissioner by the Union Territory administrator ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He will replace Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh in his new post.
On January 26, Haryana Civil Service officer Pradyuman Singh was given charge of the additional excise and taxation officer after Kumar was transferred from the department. Kumar had ordered the sealing of establishments and suspension of the licences of 10 major liquor vends.
Kumar had managed to stop the sale of illegal liquor during his five-month stint since September 2023. More than 30 cases of sale of illegal liquor were registered during his tenure.