Why in News?

Under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the State Council of Ministers approved the Composite Excise Policy 2022-23 and Heritage Liquor Policy 2022. With this, there will be effective control on the manufacture, transportation, storage and sale of illegal and non-standard liquor.

Key Points: 

The following provisions have been made under the new excise system-

• By bringing down the retail sale rates of liquor by about 20 percent, it can be brought to a practical level.
• Country/foreign liquor shops of all the districts can be executed on the lines of small individual groups.
• All liquor shops will be composite shops, so that conditions for selling illegal liquor will not be created.
• The high level district committee of the collector and the legislators of the districts will have the right to change the location geographically according to the local requirements of their district according to the liquor shops.
• There will be no duty on wine made in the state using grapes produced by the farmers of the state.
• In the country liquor supply system, district wise tenders can be called among the servants of the state. This year the rate of tetra packing can also be called.
• An E-excise system will be implemented to prevent loss of revenue. In this, track and trace of liquor, scanning of QR codes, and testing of validity will be easy.

The following provisions have been made under the Heritage Liquor Policy-

• Permission has been given for a pilot project of liquor made from Mahua flower. After that it will be presented before the sub-committee of the cabinet.
• In the year 2022-23, the approval of the new bar license will be done from the collector level as per the parameters set by the government.
• Bar licenses can be given at concessional rates, on the basis of simple procedures/parameters, to the units operated by Eco-Tourism Board, temporary nature of Tourism Development Corporation at important places from the point of view of tourism.
• Foreign liquor sales counters can be opened at all airports.
• Licenses can be issued to operate wine counters on fixed license fees in selected super markets in Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Gwalior.
• Permission will be given to open micro beverages in Indore and Bhopal, but no objection certificate from Environment, Electricity Departments and Municipal Corporation will be required.
• The process of importing liquor will be simplified.
• Home bar license can be given, for which an annual license fee of Rs 50,000 will be charged. It will be eligible for those whose gross personal income is minimum one crore rupees.

By: ASRAF UDDIN AHMED