Owners seek L-G’s intervention in auction of arrack shops

They are demanding that Excise Department re-auction arrack and liquor shops

Members of Puducherry Arrack Shop Owners and Labourers Society coming out of Raj Nivas after submitting a petition to Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi on Friday.

The Puducherry Arrack Shop Owners and Labourers Society has requested Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi to intervene and direct the Excise Department to conduct re-auction for arrack and liquor shops in the Union Territory.

In a memorandum submitted to Ms. Bedi, V.C. Ezhumalai alias Kasilingam, president of the society said all along the Excise Department conducted the annual auction by tying up with Auction India, a business-to-business e-tendering company, for conducting the bidding process for arrack and toddy shops.

Details to be uploaded

The details of eligible bidders and Earnest Money Deposit would be uploaded on the auction website. The Excise Department suddenly changed the process and instead adopted a software developed by the National Informatics Centre for conducting the bidding process this year.

Mr. Kasilingam said the new software was not demonstrated to the arrack shop owners and bidders. The Excise Department had stated that single bid auction would not be entertained and the highest bidder will be declared as the successful bidder.

However, on the contrary the Excise authorities had earmarked four shops in Puducherry municipality and Ariyankuppam commune to a single bidder.

A few eligible bidders who had made payment of Earnest Money Deposit were not allowed to participate in the auction.

The Lt. Governor should intervene and direct the Excise Department to conduct re-auction for all shops and check the audit details of arrack shops auctioned so far, he added.