Delhi excise dept exploring options to dispose 70 lakh unsold liquor bottles: Officials

New Delhi: The Delhi government's excise department is devising ways to dispose 70 lakh bottles of leftover liquor and to roll them over for sale under the current excise regime, officials said on Wednesday.

The stock, also comprising wine and beer, is stored at warehouses as it could not be sold under Excise Policy 2021-22 that finally ended on August 31, they said.

"There are over 35 lakh bottles of various spirit brands are registered under the current excise policy. Such brands can be sold through corporation vends," a senior government officer said.

The remaining stock belongs to brands that are yet to be registered under the prevailing excise policy. "It is being explored how to dispose this stock of unregistered brands. One option is to register the brands concerned and sell them through the liquor vends. Another option is to destroy them," the officer said.

Officials, however, said the government may allow sale of the unregistered brand bottles instead of destroying them.

They cited an example from 2019 wherein the excise department had prepared a proposal seeking permission to sell liquor bottles seized during raids at 25 per cent less than their actual price, after proper testing, instead of destroying them.

The Excise Policy 2021-22 that came into being from November 17, 2021, was withdrawn by the Delhi government following recommendation of a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its implementation.

The government then reverted to the excise policy that was in operation before November 17, 2021, by running liquor vends through its four undertakings- DTTDC, DSIIDC, DSCSC and DCCWS- from September 1 this year.

Officials said 518 licenses have been issued for liquor vends to the four corporations so far. A total of 406 vends have opened and 400 of them have started placing purchase orders for stock.

The excise department has also registered nearly 650 brands of liquor.

Officials said the left over stock could be sold at prices consistent with the current excise policy.

A part of the stock comprises beer bottles of unregistered brands, that will be needed to be disposed soon as they can not be stored for long without proper refrigeration facilities, the officials added.