Delhi government orders closure of departmental stores selling beer, wine

New Delhi: The Delhi government has ordered closure of departmental stores selling wine and beer from Friday, official sources said.

Sources said on Thursday that the decision was taken following several violations by departmental stores and it would impact 125 such outlets in Delhi.

According to rules, these outlets can only use around 10-15 per cent space for selling beer and wine, and the rest of space can be used to sell grocery items, a government official, who did not wish to be named, said.

"During the inspection earlier, it was found that most of these departmental stores were using from 50-80 per cent of space to sell wine and beer, which is a clear violation of excise rules," the official said. "Also, several other irregularities were found at these outlets."

Later, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said: "The Delhi government has decided to close 125 liquor shops (departmental stores) in Delhi. These shops were running under Licence-12. In the recent days, there were several irregularities found at these shops during surprise inspection."

Sisodia, who also holds the portfolio of the excise department, had also made surprise inspections at several departmental stores in the past.