Audit flags suspected Rs 9.71-cr liquor pilferage in four districts

Suspected pilferage of liquor worth Rs 9.71 crore has come to light in four districts of Himachal Pradesh during the financial year 2021–22 after an audit flagged major discrepancies between the quantities of liquor sold by wholesalers and those lifted by retailers. This was pointed out by Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its report (period ended March 2022), which was laid on the table of the House in the Vidhan Sabha last week.

The scrutiny of records in the offices of the Deputy Excise Commissioners in Shimla, Una, Baddi (Solan) and Nurpur (Kangra) revealed a mismatch across all categories — Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), Country Liquor (CL) and Beer.

The audit recorded that retailers lifted 54.31 lakh proof litres of IMFL against the wholesale sale of 55.57 lakh proof litres, 71.17 lakh proof litres of CL against 72.54 lakh proof litres sold, and 44 lakh bulk litres of beer against wholesale sales of 45.15 lakh bulk litres.

The shortfall of 1.26 lakh proof litres of IMFL, 1.38 lakh proof litres of CL and 1.16 lakh bulk litres of beer has been treated as suspected pilferage due to the absence of a cross-verification mechanism to reconcile dispatches by wholesalers with receipts at retail vends.

As per the excise policy of that year, the retailers must have sourced CL only through designated L-13 wholesale vends, while IMFL and Beer were to be supplied solely by L-1 wholesale licensees. The retailers were also required to deposit the applicable license fee before obtaining excise passes for lifting stock.

The audit observed that despite these controls, the department did not maintain any consolidated system to compare wholesale transactions with retail lifting, creating scope for diversion of liquor and loss of revenue.

On being pointed out, the Deputy Excise Commissioners concerned informed auditors between September 2021 and February 2022 that reconciliation of figures would be undertaken by them. A subsequent communication in March 2023 reported that Rs 15.38 lakh had been recovered in two districts. However, complete reconciliation and details of further action were still awaited. The audit findings were referred to the state government in December 2022, but no reply had been received till January 2025.

The audit has recommended to the excise department to establish a robust mechanism for real-time verification of the quantities sold by wholesalers and lifted by retailers to prevent pilferage and safeguard government revenue.