Delhi / Delhi govt allows home delivery of liquor through mobile apps, websites

New Delhi: The Delhi government has allowed home delivery of liquor in the national Capital through websites and mobile applications by making a legal provision for it, documents seen by HT showed. The provision has been included in the Delhi Excise (Amendment) Rules, 2021, which were notified on Monday.

Excise officials explained the new rule does not empower every liquor retailer to deliver alcohol at the consumer’s doorsteps. “Only a particular kind of license holder will be allowed to home deliver liquor. In Delhi, we have now allowed home delivery of liquor only to L-13 license holders,” said an official, who did not want to be named.

The official added this is not a new license category that has been created. “L-13 permits for home delivery existed in the previous excise rules as well.” The official added hardly any such license was issued till now because of complexities in the relevant clause, which stated that liquor can be delivered to residences only after orders are placed through fax or emails.

The new excise rules refer to the licenses under the L-13 category for home delivery of Indian and foreign liquor. “The licensee shall make delivery of liquor at the residences only if the order is received through a mobile app or online web portal and no delivery shall be made to any hostel, office, and institution.”

A Delhi government spokesperson said a statement will be issued on the matter soon. This story will be updated accordingly.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised the move and said the notification suggests the “misplaced priorities” of the Aam Aadmi Party government. “At a time when Delhi was reeling under the brutal second wave of Covid-19 during the last two months, the Delhi government was busy working with the liquor mafia to change these rules,” said BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana. “The Delhi government failed to provide oxygen to people on time leading to thousands of deaths and now it says it will home deliver liquor. It failed to deliver oxygen cylinders to people’s doorstep during the [pandemic] peak and instead wants to deliver alcohol to them.”