PANAJI: Around 77 liquor licences remain suspended for election-related offences, according to the state’s excise department.
The suspension order was issued during pre-assembly election period and continues to remain in force until the inquiry is over, said assistant commissioner of excise Satyavan Bhivshet on Tuesday.
Bhivshet said that flying squad teams of the excise department had booked over 125 cases of violation of model code of conduct between January 4 and February 4, 2017, of which 77 cases are pending inquiry. The offending parties were issued show-cause notices and until the hearing of the notices is over, the suspension order will not be lifted, said Bhivshet.
Licences were suspended due to various offences related to violation of the model code of conduct, including serving of alcohol beyond 11 pm, keeping premises open etc. The department officials had also seized liquor for which there were no invoices and liquor coming in from outside the state. The seized liquor continues to remain with the excise department, said Bhivshet.
Freebies and liquor to tempt voters is a regular feature during election time. However, monitoring during this assembly election was strict, with the excise department constituting 11 flying squads that worked 24×7 in all the talukas. Further, there was also tightened checking at the check-posts. About 12 control rooms were also set up to take in complaints from citizens.
A daily register was maintained to track production by distillers, sale at dealers or shops and stock of unsold liquor at the end of the day. Although no political parties have been detected distributing liquor, the department is yet to ascertain the reason for flouting of the model code of conduct.
Show-cause notices seek adequate reasons from the offenders for committing the wrongdoing and if the explanation is not satisfactory, it could result in cancellation of licence.