JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir Department of Excise today said that the New Excise Policy is an attempt to implement law of the land and Judgments of the High Court and it will ensure Transparency, Equity Inclusiveness in allotment of Retail Liquor vends (JKEL – 2).
Giving details about the New Policy, the Excise Commissioner said that it is completely transparent and no functionary in UT can favour or disfavor any prospective bidder.
“The Policy will end favouritism. The e-bidding for liquor licenses has been confined to domiciles of J&K only and it will therefore, provide employment to locals only. It ends monopoly,” he added.
Explaining the auction, he said equal opportunity to all has been provided to participate in e-auction process for allotment of liquor licenses and to stop perpetual transfers within family. One individual-one vend will restrict practice of monopoly. Policy does not allow participation of persons with criminal antecedents. Discovery of fair price of each location/vend will be possible through e-auction.
Constraints of Force-Majeure are also being addressed.
Solvency certificate of immovable property equivalent to bid amount provides due safeguard that only residents of J&K can participate, the Commissioner informed adding, it will also check proxy and speculative bidding.
“Online e-auction shall ensure anonymous participation without any fear from any pressure group. Digitization of inventory will lead to minimum human interface and cleaner system of administration” the commissioner said.
The Commissioner said that the auction of liquor vends only on existing locations which have been functioning for past many years ensures that public sentiments are fully taken into account.
He said that ‘Minimum Guarantee Revenue (MGR)’ has been fixed to check sale of spurious liquor.
“The Minimum Guarantee Revenue is with reference to the sale of 2019-20, even though revenue during the year 2020-21 was higher than that in 2019-20. It is an attempt to ensure reasonability” he added and said “For first time MRP formulae and profit margins have been declared.
For the first time draft policy was put in public domain for seeking suggestions from the common people. This has enabled selection of licensees on fair and transparent competition without any interference/influence.
Meanwhile, in view of huge participation in the pre bid meetings and number of queries being received by the help desk of the Excise Department a vibrant participation is expected in the e-auction process.
In view of this, the Excise Department has cancelled all kinds of leaves and all offices of the Department shall work on Sundays and Holidays as well.
Besides, the helpdesk of the department shall also function for the guidance of bidders. The Department has advised the general Public to beware of fraudsters and rely on Official website of the department i.e www.jkexcise.nic.in and the helpline numbers.
The department has advised the stakeholders to beware of any misleading information being floated in public domain. “For factual and reliable information/clarification, they can log on to official websites: i) www.jkexcise.nic.in ii) https://jkexcisedept.auctiontiger.net and contact Help Desk Nos: 0191-2475686 and 9796081001
The Excise department has also informed that No Digital signatures are required for registration/e-bidding.
It has also been informed that Excise Department is not making any calls to prospective bidders, asking for any information. All such fraudster calls should not be entertained. For any clarification/confirmation, call the helpline numbers given above.
