The ban on entry into the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Excise by the public, which has been in place for a month now, has been extended for another 20 days till the process of renewal of licences of liquor shops is completed.
In a recent incident, residents of Bamboo Bazaar and surrounding areas had gone to the the Deputy Commissioner’s office to register a complaint against a bar and restaurant located in the area. However, they were reportedly asked to submit their grievances to the security.
Similarly liquor shop owners were turned down by the Deputy Commissioner despite having sent a request letter to the Deputy Commissioner for convening a meeting.
A few of them reportedly met the Joint Commissioner of Excise to complain against the Deputy Commissioner’s stand not to allow the public into the office even during visiting hours. Some liquor shop owners told The Hindu on the condition of anonymity that they had never come across such a system and questioned the propriety of restricting entry to the public into the office even during visiting hours.
They said they had missed out on certain documents that were to be attached along with the licence renewal applications and wanted to produce those documents as per the suggestion of their legal advisers.
The Deputy Commissioner told The Hindu that the office had to renew over 497 applications and hence had restricted the entry of the public into the office for over a month-and-a-half.
