The Comptroller and Auditor General&rsquo;s (CAG) audit report on alleged financial irregularities by the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government was presented in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday. It resulted in a revenue loss of ₹2,000 crore to the exchequer.&nbsp;
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta presented the report that included Delhi&rsquo;s liquor policy between 2017 and 2022, flagging several violations in quality control, licensing, pricing, and systemic enforcement failures. It was tabled in the Assembly after the suspension of 12 AAP MLAs for sloganeering during Lt Governor VK Saxena&rsquo;s address to the House. 
As per the report, decisions were taken without approval of competent authority and responsibility and accountability should be fixed for lapses. 
The CAG Report on the &ldquo;Performance Audit on Regulation and Supply of Liquor in Delhi&rdquo; was signed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India Girish Chandra Murmu. In the report, he writes that the &ldquo;actual implementation was sub-optimal and objectives behind the policy were not achieved.&rdquo;
The report pointed out that recommendations of an expert panel to make changes in the now-scrapped excise policy were ignored by then Delhi Deputy CM and Excise Minister Manish Sisodia. 
&ldquo;Issue and management of zonal licenses had major shortcomings. There was lack of scrutiny of the business entities with regards to their financial wherewithal and management expertise. Instances of related business entities holding licenses across the liquor supply chain were noticed,&rdquo; the report said.
&ldquo;Liquor supply data indicates exclusivity arrangements between zonal licensees and wholesalers and brand pushing. Surrender of zonal licenses during the extended policy period further led to substantial revenue loss. Other important measures which were planned in the policy, like setting up of laboratories and batch testing for quality assurance, setting up of super premium vends etc, were not implemented,&rdquo; mentioned the report.
The CAG report also called for fixing responsibility for the lapses.
&ldquo;Responsibility and accountability should be fixed for the lapses observed and the enforcement mechanism should be strengthened,&rdquo; it said.
The report says that decisions were taken without the approval of competent authority.
&ldquo;Audit observed that in violation of Cabinet decision no 3003, certain decisions, mentioned below, which had revenue implications were taken without taking approval from the Cabinet and/or obtaining the opinion of Lieutenant Governor.&rdquo;
Report also flagged a ₹144 crore waiver granted to licence holders, citing COVID-19 restrictions, a decision personally approved by Sisodia despite objections of the state finance department.&nbsp;
Some of CAG&rsquo;s findings are below:
* Failure of implementation of Rule 35 of Delhi Excise Rules 2010, which prohibits the issuance of multiple licenses of different categories. Licenses were issued without ensuring solvency, submission of audited financial statements and verification of criminal antecedents.
*The increase in wholesaler margin from 5- 12% led to a rise in their profit margin but a drop in government revenues
*Lack of transparency and fairness in the entire procedure. As the policy allowed the single applicant to operate up to 54 liquor vends, this allowed cartelization.
*The Expert Committee recommendations were disregarded during the drafting of the 2021-22 excise policy
*Exemptions and relaxations in the policy were allowed without the Delhi Cabinet's approval or L-G&rsquo;s clearance. This was a gross violation of the legal procedure
*Liquor vends were approved in residential areas, without approval from the MCD or DDA
*Weak enforcement of smuggling by the Excise Intelligence Bureau. No action was taken against smuggling, despite seizures of illegal consignment, thus hinting at negligence/collusion
&nbsp;
&mdash;IANS
&nbsp;

Former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal (right) and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia

Highlights accountability for lapses by previous govt on Delhi’s liquor policy

Delhi Liquor Policy Caused ₹2K Cr Loss: CAG Report

Highlights accountability for lapses by previous govt on Delhi’s liquor policy

February 25, 2025 | 15:15 IST