28 liquor vends unsold, yet Chandigarh Administration rakes in Rs 449 crore

Even as 28 of the total 97 liquor shops have not yet found any takers, the UT Administration has already earned over Rs 449 crore from the auction of 69 vends this fiscal, said officials.

The Excise and Taxation Department has invited fresh bids for the sale of the left-out 28 liquor vends. The bids will be opened and the allotments made to the highest bidders on April 29.

The auction of 69 liquor shops for the current financial year 2025-26 has generated Rs 449.43 crore, which is almost 9 per cent more than Rs 413.14 crore earned from the sale of 89 vends during the past fiscal 2024-25.

The development assumes significance as the earlier auction of liquor vends had come under the judicial scanner. The Chandigarh Wine Contractors’ Association had challenged it before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Though the High Court had stayed the auction process, the Supreme Court later vacated the stay while accepting the UT Administration’s appeal. While criticising the High Court’s interim order for lacking reasons, the Apex Court had ruled that the functioning of the vends cannot be kept stalled without proper justification and had directed the HC to resolve the matter.

After getting relief from the SC, the UT Administration went ahead with the sale of liquor vends and auctioned 96 shops in the first auction. However, the allotment of 49 shops had to be later cancelled after the allottees failed to deposit the stipulated bank guarantee amount.

While one vend was sold in the second round of auction, the third phase held on April 21 found takers for 20 more liquor shops, still leaving 28 unsold.

Calling this year’s excise policy as transparent and both customer and contractor friendly, UT Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner (AETC) Harsuhinder Pal Singh Brar told The Tribune on Tuesday that the department had already surpassed the last year’s total revenue with the sale of 28 liquor vends still pending.

Brar said he was confident of a better response to the coming auction of the left-out 28 retail units.

However, the liquor contractors have termed the UT’s policy as “anti-trader”. “Instead of keeping the same reserve price for the cancelled liquor vends, the department has revised it on a par with the bid amount, which is unjust,” a trader Shakti Dureja said, while citing the hike in reserve price as the main reason for the 28 liquor vends remaining unsold so far.

Bacchus lovers left high & dry

With 28 liquor vends still lying closed and 20 shops auctioned on Monday yet to open, the Bacchus lovers are left high and dry. As almost half of the total approved shops were non-operational even over three weeks after the start of the current fiscal, the availability of liquor was less and the retail prices have hit the roof. “Those running the vends are charging at their whims and fancies with several brands remaining unavailable,” Manpreet Singh, a regular customer, complained.

Chandigarh