What CAG Report Said On AAP's Liquor Policy ?(screen grab from x.com/gupta_rekha)
New Delhi: The newly formed BJP government on Tuesday (February 25) presented one of the pending 14 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports in Delhi Assembly reviewing the performance of the previous Kejriwal government. Delhi’s now-scrapped liquor policy caused an overall loss of Rs. 2,000 crore to the government, the report revealed.
Following corruption allegations, the Delhi liquor policy was withdrawn by then Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government. However, the huge financial irregularities in the policy, resulted in the arrests of top AAP leaders, including party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, his former deputy and Excise Minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and former Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
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As per the report, which covered a period of four years from 2017-18 to 2020-21, government faced a revenue loss of Rs. 941.53 crore, stating timely permissions were not taken for opening the liquor vends in “non-conforming municipal wards”. Non-conforming areas are those areas which do not comply with land use norms for opening of liquor vends.
CAG Report exposes AAP’s Liquor Scam –
• Violations in licensing: No penalties imposed on defaulters
•Illegal exemptions: ₹941 Cr lost due to undue benefits to select vendors
•License fee waivers: ₹144 Cr lost despite clear contract terms
•Security deposit mismanagement:… pic.twitter.com/D9IlsXiUBZ— Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) February 25, 2025
The report also added that the Excise Department suffered a loss of nearly Rs 890.15 crore because the surrendered licenses were failed to put up for re-tendering. Apart from this, there was loss of revenue due to “irregular grant” of waiver of the license of Rs 144 crore in the period between December 28, 2021, and January 27, 2022 due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
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Also, incorrect collection of security deposits from zonal licensees resulted in loss of revenue of around Rs 27 crore. Further, report stated that liquor testing laboratories, batch testing for rigorous quality assurance, and monitoring and regulation through the creation of a dedicated post were not ensured.
The group of Ministers (GoM), headed by then Deputy Chief Minister and Excise Minister Manish Sisodia, has changed recommendations of the expert committee formed to formulate the liquor policy, the report said.
