E-auction of liquor shops to be delayed

Existing licence holders of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) off shops and country spirit (CS) shops have now something to smile about as the implementation of e-auction of liquor shops is likely get delayed.

The state cabinet today extended the existing system of allotment of IMFL off and CS shop licences till the disposal of special leave petition (SLP) to be filed by the state government challenging the order of high court or up to the end of the financial year, whichever is earlier.

The existing system was extended up to October, 2013, by the cabinet for complying with the directions of the high court dated July 24.

The cabinet at its meeting on May 30 had approved the proposal for allowing extension upto July, 2013 for all the existing IMFL off shops after the interim order of the high court. There are about 1,131 Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and more than 500 country liquor shops in the state. The state government had initially issued a notification on February 28, this year, announcing allotment of liquor shop licences through e-auctioning and discontinuation of previous method of allotting it through lottery.