TS govt invites applications for A4 retail liquor shops

 Hyderabad: The state government on Wednesday called for applications to allot A4 retail liquor outlets for a two-year period, from 2023 to 2025.

In a notification, the government asked interested applicants or their authorised representatives to undertake the prescribed applications. Partnership firms and companies were also allowed to apply for allotment. While an applicant may submit more than one application, each application must be accompanied by the prescribed fee, it noted.

The duration for the new outlets’ licences will be in force from December 1, 2023, to November 30, 2025.

The schedule for the entire process, starting from the identification of A4 liquor shops for allotment to the Goud/ SC/ST categories, issuance of notification and other activities up to the start of the operation of the A4 liquor shops, shall be specified by commissioner or director of prohibition and excise.

The notification specified a non-refundable application fee of Rs 2 lakh.

To ensure livelihood security for members of the Goud community, who have traditionally been in the profession of toddy tapping and liquor sale, they are allotted a 15 per cent reservation, while SCs get a 10 per cent reservation and STs, five per cent.

“Only persons belonging Goud/SC/ST community shall apply for allotment of A4 liquor shops notified for the category… The number of A4 liquor shops to be notified for each of the categories in a district shall be proportional to the population of that category in the district to the total population of the category in the state,” an excise official said.

They said that allotment of shops will be done through a draw of lots, which will be conducted by the district collector concerned. To ensure transparency, all rules specified in the guidelines will be enforced, they said.

After the due date for the receipt of applications, they will be scrutinised and chosen for the lottery.

The government also fixed the Retail Shop Excise Tax (RSET) for different population slabs in the 2023-25 license period.

The RSET details are given as Rs 50 lakh for a population up to 5,000, Rs 55 lakh for a population of 5,000-50,000, Rs 60 lakh for 50,000-1 lakh population, Rs 65 lakh for 1 lakh to 5 lakh people, Rs 85 lakh for 5 lakh to 20 lakh population, and Rs 1.1 crore for population above 20 lakh.