Blatant violation Rules

26/06/2020

Taking serious note of violation of various provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Excise Act, 1958 and Liquor License and Sale Rules, 1984, the Excise Commissioner has issued show-cause notices to around 30 liquor licensees before initiating action against them. Moreover, the process of identification of more violators of the law is still going on and action against them will be initiated in the near future. During the scrutiny of the record by the office of the Excise Commissioner several liquor licenses were found to have been transferred in gross violation of the Excise Act, 1958 and Jammu and Kashmir Liquor License and Sale Rules, 1984 by deleting original licensees and operating vends without requisite No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the department. It has also come to the fore that many licenses have been transferred outside the family/legal heirs in gross violation of the provisions of the Rules which deal with issuance of individual licenses. Moreover, it has been noticed that multiple licenses have been issued in favour of certain persons although the Excise Act and the Rules don't permit the same.
Rule 8-A of J&K Liquor License and Sale Rules, 1984, reads as in a case where a licence is granted to an individual, a member of the family of the licensee may be incorporated as a partner by the Licensing Authority during the currency of a license on an application made in writing by the licensee giving sufficient and cogent reasons and on payment of non-refundable processing fee if the family member is otherwise eligible under these Rules for grant of such license. Similarly, Rule 18 of J&K Liquor License and Sale Rules, 1984 states that no person holding a licence for a distillery may hold any other licence except a licence in form JKEL-8. Moreover, no person holding a licence for a brewery shall hold any other license. But, it has come to the notice that some persons have managed multiple licenses in blatant violation of Rule 18 and several persons who have illegally managed transfer of licenses by deleting the original licensees have even been allotted sub-vends as if there is no Act or Rule in Jammu and Kashmir and notices have also been issued to such persons. The Excise Department has also started initiating action against those who restored to black-marketing of liquor when the shops were closed in view of COVID-19 lockdown.

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