Delhi govt extends old excise policy for another 6 months

The Delhi government has decided to extend its existing excise policy by six months due to the time needed for coming up with a new liquor trade regime, officials said on Thursday.
The policy has been extended till March 31, 2024, following the requisite approvals from the Delhi government and the lieutenant governor, a senior officer said. A proposal of the excise department to extend the policy, implemented on September 1 last year, was sent for the LG’s nod after it was cleared by the government. The file was sent back to the government from the LG’s office, marked “seen”, the officer added.
A notification for the extension of the policy will be issued by the excise department on Friday. After the notification, the existing excise licences will be renewed for six months on payment of fees on a pro-rata basis, he said. The current excise policy was going to lapse on September 30, requiring either its extension or replacement with a new policy for regulatory necessities to operate retail and wholesale liquor trade in the national capital. Now that the policy has been extended, the entry of private players into the retail liquor trade will remain blocked at least till the start of the next financial year (2024–25). By then, a new excise regime will possibly be announced, the officials said.
A draft of a new policy for 2023–24 was prepared by the excise department, but it has yet to be vetted by the government, they added.
The current policy was meant to be a stop-gap measure to prevent a regulatory vacuum due to the sudden scrapping of the new excise policy for 2021–22 by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government after LG V K Saxena recommended a CBI inquiry into alleged irregularities in its implementation.