Family with 13 liquor licences busted

After an activist sought information under the Right to Information Act, the state excise department has come to know of a family of four that has 13 liquor licences. This has prompted the department to initiate an inquiry into the validity of licences granted by district level committees and send a show-cause notice to the family.

Harish Govind Tahiliyani, his wife Neha and their parents own wine shops in the suburbs. They have 12 foreign liquor retail licences and one country liquor retail licence. According to the rules, only one member from each family can hold a liquor licence, and cannot hold more than one. Further, they cannot hold a combination of licences, that is, country and foreign liquor.

The discrepancy was found in August this year by Chetan Kamble, an activist with the Bhimshakti Vichar Sangh. “It is evident that all rules have been broken by the administration while validating the licenses,” says Kamble, who has demanded that the department investigate the issuance of liquor licences. He adds, “The applicants also failed to provide affidavits when asking for revalidation.”

The state excise department is now making enquiries about all licence holders as, according to Kamble, the records do not have documents to explain the basis for revalidating the licenses.