Inter-departmental discord resolved in Telangana: Excise aligns with Commercial Taxes over liquor consignment procedures

The departmental tussle came to rest a week later when Excise department conceded to conform with the dictats of Commercial Taxes department.

Hyderabad: Government departments function in silos. Perhaps, there is no other better example than the recent issue between the Commercial Taxes and Excise departments in Telangana to elucidate this. Caught up in between were the liquor traders who had to put up with harassment by Commercial Taxes officials and devil-may-care attitude of the Excise department. The departmental tussle came to rest a week later when Excise department conceded to conform with the dictats of Commercial Taxes department.

Here is a run down of the rather peculiar face-off between two departments. In Telangana, the licensed liquor shop owners buy liquor stocks from the Telangana State Beverages Corporation Ltd (TSBCL). The ongoing practise is that they pay money to the exchequer, produce the receipts and lift the liquor stock. But last week the Commercial Taxes officials began seizing the vehicles carrying liquor stocks from TSBCL depots citing a rule that every truck carrying liquor consignment must have the e-way bills.

---

Generally, these e-way bills are to be issued by the vendor, in this case, the TSBCL. But the corporation had never issued the e-way bills so far. It used to issue the bills of payment and release the stocks and after verification the Excise officials were to issue the transport permit, based on which trucks used to be allowed to reach their destinations. If this was the system, Commercial Taxes officials began seizing the vehicles and imposing fines to the tune of 50 to 70 per cent of the value of the consignment.

This was protested by the licensed liquor shop operators who argued that the Excise department had to issue the e-way bills and all it required was that the Commercial Taxes department to ask the Excise counterparts to issue the e-way bill. But with the higher-ups of both departments not willing to speak to each other, the seizure of vehicles continued and worried liquor shop owners protested by not lifting stocks from the beverages corporation.

It was only after much persuasion and critical media coverage, the Excise Officials relented and asked the IMFL depots to issue the original copies of the e-way bills while issuing stocks. And that simple communication solved the issue. Similarly, a phone call from the Commercial Taxes bosses to their counterparts in Excise department or an official communication could have averted the harassment, says D Venkateshwar Rao, president of Telangana Wine Dealers Association.