Cabinet extends manual renewal of liquor licences

The state cabinet today decided to extend the period for renewal of liquor shop license by three months, as no decision has been taken regarding online auction of licenses so far.

Last year, quashing the 2013 order of the state government regarding online auction of liquor license, the High Court had said, manual renewal of licenses would continue till a fresh decision is taken by the government.

In February last year, the state government had issued a notification announcing allotment of liquor shop licences through e-auctioning and discontinuation of previous method of allotting it through lottery. Resisting the decision, the liquor shop owners had approached the High Court citing flaws in the notification.

After the HC order, the state government in March 2013, came out with a revised notification and rescheduled the auction of liquor shop licences for Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and Country Spirit (CS) to June 2013 onwards and allowed continuation of previous method till the implementation of the new plan.There has been no attempt by the government since then to implement the online auction scheme.

Among other decisions, the state cabinet today decided to reduce forest development tax (FDT) on sale of kendu leaves to 14 per cent from 16 per cent earlier and authorised district courts to conduct trials of disputes involving Rs 10 lakh, raising the Rs 5 lakh cap applicable earlier. The cabinet meeting also took a decision to create four new posts at Odisha State Beverages Corporation.

These are Chief Operating Officer, General Manager (Account), Assistant Manager (Systems) and a Supply Chain Manager.