New Delhi, July 25 -- The Delhi government's excise department has introduced an online delivery challan and a new transport permit mechanism to streamline liquor supply from warehouses and wholesalers to retailers, officials said on Friday.

Under the current excise policy, four corporations - DTTDC, DSIIDC, DSCSC and DCCWS - run the retail liquor vends.

The four corporations have been directed by the Excise Department to accept online-generated challans as proof of delivery of liquor stock for payment purposes and not to ask for manual copies of the challan from wholesalers, an official said.

It had come to the notice of the department that the payment related to excise duty was not being timely paid by the corporations to wholesalers until the challan signed

by the receiver at retail

vend was submitted to the corporations as proof of delivery, said an Excise Department circular.

It was against the ease of doing business practices and delaying excise duty payment, the officer said.

The online delivery challan has now been introduced as a provision at the level of retail liquor vends and the hotels, clubs, and restaurants (HCR) category. It will be generated at the time of receiving stock through transport permit (TP) at retail vends and the HCR, the circular said.

The online delivery challan will be generated by retailers and will also be available to wholesalers, it added.

Further, the Excise department has come up with a new TP mechanism for the time-bound delivery of liquor stock to the retailers from July 19.

Under the mechanism, retailers of liquor will raise their purchase orders with wholesalers of Indian and foreign alcohol and beer. Wholesalers will have to either accept or reject the orders within two days for Indian liquor and 7 days in case of foreign liquor.

Wholesalers will be required to submit reasons if they reject an order, said an order by the Excise department.

Wholesalers will have to deliver the ordered stock to the retail vends, hotels,

clubs and restaurants, after accepting it till 10 pm the next day. The TP will be "expired unexecuted" if the delivery is not made within the given time. The TP is considered executed only after receipt of challans and delivery and acceptance of stock on the e-Abakari app.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.