Excise dept ignores HC order

patna: the bihar government’s excise department does not care for the judiciary. thankfully, the revenue board does. in a dramatic turn to the row over grant of licence for vending and manufacturing spiced and country liquor to owners of newly-floated firms, the revenue board on saturday refused to negotiate the tenders referred to by the excise department apparently in deference to the patna high court.according to revenue board sources, the member, revenue board, took strong exception to the state excise commissioner’s decision to fix saturday as the day for final negotiation of tenders despite the matter being sub-judice. the high court, in a recent directive to the state government, has sought details about the credential of the owners of the new firms, particularly the patna-based k d liquor and fertiliser company private limited, which have submitted tenders for allotment of three-year licences for spiced liquor. the court has fixed april 29 as the next date of hearing. the revenue board high-ups, the sources said, snubbed the excise officials for taking decisions without having complete information about the developments in the hc over the issue. even though the hc had passed an order on the issue of tenders for spiced liquor, the state excise commissioner late on thursday evening invited the bidders for country liquor manufacturing, along with those for the spiced liquor, to the revenue board on saturday for negotiations on their tenders. “but the member, revenue board, refused to do any negotiation with the bidders and advised the excise commissioner to better postpone it till the hc gives its final directive on the issue,� sources in the revenue board said. hearing a pil filed by an mla, a hc bench, comprising chief justice ravi s dhavan and justice shashank kumar singh, on thursday questioned the role of the state government in the evasion of sales taxes to the tune of crores of rupees by liquor firms. it also expressed concern over the government move to allot licences to firms which are owned by the same owners who owned the defaulting firms. the pil has named some bidding firms and said they were dummy companies floated by the same people whose other firms indulged in tax evasions earlier. additional advocate general had informed the court that state government was equally concerned over evasion of sales tax and assured the court to produce facts about the credentials of the bidders. asked about their audacity to ignore the judiciary, a senior excise official, pleaded the department was not aware of the hc directive.