Telangana: Citizens complain of Excise Officials delaying, denying liquor permits

Though following prescribed legal procedures to obtain liquor permissions for private parties and events, certain excise department officials demanded the applicants to only buy liquor from the liquor outlet they suggested or threaten to raid or book cases against them.

Hyderabad: Though citizens have been following the prescribed legal procedure to obtain liquor permissions for private parties and events, certain officials of the Excise Department are alleged to be either delaying or denying granting the required permissions.

Those applying for liquor permits for parties and events have to shell out anywhere between Rs 10,000 to several lakhs depending on various factors. However, it is alleged that certain excise department officials in areas like Serilingampally, Shamshabad, Kokapet, have been demanding the applicants to only buy liquor from the liquor outlet suggested by them or threaten to raid or book cases.

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“Some over smart officers collect contact details of the applicant from the online applications and directly call them and suggest buying liquor from certain liquor shops. If not, they are delaying or denying permission on trivial reasons,” said a liquor store owner.

The duty of SHOs is only to inspect the application, venue and recommend the local Excise Superintendent to grant permission, they are creating unnecessary issues, he added.

Recently, the Telangana Wine Dealer’s Association members have also submitted representation to the higher authorities of the Excise Department in this regard.