Excise commissioner & DM locked in stalemate over suspension of booze shop sale

Tuesday, 15 OCTOBER 2024  | PNS | DEHRADUN

In latest news from Doon, the State Excise commissioner Hari Chand Semwal and the district magistrate Dehradun Savin Bansal are now at loggerheads over the latter’s recent order to stop booze sale from a  prominent liquor shop in Rajpur Road for 15 days on several charges, including overpricing and operating a bar in a nearby lodge till late night hours sans permission. A stalemate ensued after Semwal stayed the order with the DM refusing to execute the stay.

Notably, the DM had taken the step after some locals, including the elderly people and women who live near the lodge where the bar was operating, had lodged a complaint with Bansal.  

Piqued by the stay, the DM wrote to the Excise commissioner to make clear what had warranted the stay and under what clause of the Excise Act the stay was ordered.