Following the discovery of irregularities in licences issued to departmental stores by the Delhi government, Finance Minister A K Walia has decided to launch a crackdown on departmental stores and order an inquiry into the issuing of L-53 licence (that grants the right to sell liquor) for departmental stores by the Excise department. According to a senior official, there were discrepancies reported in several cases where liquor licence was issued. The Excise department had prepared a merit-wise list of 104 applicants for allotment of L-53 licences. Out of 31 departmental stores in the list, ten have a single authorised signatory and have the same name. There are also some names that did not appear in the merit list but were still issued the licence.
