Delhi excise department targets eateries selling liquor without licence

The Delhi government has intensified action against hotels, clubs and restaurants serving liquor without necessary excise licenses, officials said on Saturday.

Raids were conducted at 40 premises and over two dozen FIRs have been registered in the last few months, they said.

An Excise department officer said that between January-April this year, the enforcement teams raided 40 eateries in various parts of the city that were selling liquor without excise license.

The department also registered 24 FIRs in this regard. The city has around 1,000 hotels, clubs and restaurants that serve liquor without proper licenses, he said.

A significant number of unlicensed premises are operating across the city without obtaining proper licenses.

The raids were conducted across Delhi, including in West Delhi and North West areas, and 24 restaurants were found serving liquor without liquor license, officials said.

These unauthorized operations are causing the government revenue losses as they don't pay any license fees and also sell liquor on which no excise duty is paid, they said.

The officials said that these establishments out of excise management net also escape effective monitoring by the department posing threat of spurious liquor, loss of revenue and other illegal activities.

The Excise department has initiated a special enforcement drive from January 2025, aimed at identifying such unlicensed premises and bringing them under the legal excise licensing framework, they said.