Distillery sealed, licence suspended over fake holograms

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 19

The Excise and Taxation Department has sealed a distillery in Jhajjar district and suspended its licence after its liquor was found carrying fake holograms last year.

Excise duty not paid

• Liquor manufactured at Jhajjar distillery was recovered from Rewari, Kharkhoda and Rohtak last year
• The samples of holograms were sent to Hyderabad to ascertain their authenticity; they were reported to be ‘not genuine’
• Some distilleries use fake holograms to evade excise duty payable on alcohol

Some distilleries use fake holograms to evade excise duty. In his order issued on Monday, Shekhar Vidyarthi, Excise and Taxation Commissioner, issued a notice to ADS Spirits Private Limited, which is situated in Jhajjar’s Bhutiya village, asking its management to explain why its D-2 licence (license for a distillery unit) should not be cancelled.

Acting upon the orders, Jhajjar Deputy Commissioner Jitender Kumar today sealed the distillery and appointed Beri naib tehsildar Ramesh Kumar as duty magistrate to ensure peace in the vicinity of the unit.

ADS Spirits Private Limited manufactured 11 brands of IMFL — whiskey, gin and vodka. It claims on its website that it has more than 600 customers in over 60 countries across five continents.

Sources in the department said liquor purportedly manufactured at the Jhajjar distillery was recovered from Rewari, Kharkhoda (Sonepat) and Rohtak in August last year. Three cases were registered then.

The department had constituted a committee to inquire into the cases and ascertain the authenticity of the seized alcohol. In its reports, the committee had said that in all three cases, there was a complaint concerning the use of fake Excise Adhesive Labels (EALs), commonly called holograms, on the seized liquor.

The EAL samples were sent to Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), Hyderabad, to ascertain their authenticity.

All holograms sent for examination were reported to be “not genuine” in case of ADS Spirits Private Limited, stated the Vidyarthi’s order.

“The reports were sent to the District Excise and Taxation Commissioners (DETCs) in Rewari, Sonepat and Rohtak for their comments. They recommended strict action against the distillery,” the order further state.

The distillery management could not be contacted on the mentioned landline numbers.