Delhi govt 'high' with details for liquor selling on Net

When Aacharya Chanakya described the rights and duties of Suradhyksha in his Arthshastra, he would have never thought that one fine day Indian Government would form a separate department to handle it and then this department would put it all on the worldwide Web.

Well, right now we are talking about the Excise Department-the second largest revenue-earning department in the government of NCT and one of the three constituents of a Commissionerate-along with Luxury Tax and Entertainment Tax. This department works to mobilize revenue through these particular heads and regulate the liquor trade in Delhi.

Currently the department is 'high' after an up-to-date version of its share on the official website of Delhi's ruling

body-- http://delhigovt.nic.in. The department has added a few sections, and upgraded rest, which would now be of more apropos and much suitable use to a common resident (and also the newcomers) in the city.

It has listed the maximum retail price of various brands of liquor available in the city, with effect from July 1, 2001. The site also has a listing of L-2 vendors and authorized shops-corporation wise-with their complete addresses. The site also boasts lists of next due dry days and of all the hotels, clubs and restaurants holding the license to serve and store liquor.

The site has a detailed listing of all the L1 licensees with their respective brands and L2 merchandisers, constituency wise.

There is a listing of brand-wise and size-wise price listing of all the liquor brands sold in the country, along with names and addresses of all the restaurants and hotels authorized to sell and store the alcohol. What's more, even the application form for applying for the L-20 license is also up on the site, to save your that (jittery) visit to the office.

The prices mentioned on the site for different brands of whisky, beer, rum, wine, gin, vodka and brandy are with effect from July 1, 2001 in the city. The department also wishes to educate the customer about the proper and well-informed way of buying the liquor.

Apart from this, the UT's government has revamped its not-so-active official website

(http://delhigovt.nic.in), which now beholds all the information you ever needed to for any government department.

Apart from the basic information about the functions, organizational hierarchy, contact details of all the who's who in the department, the site even hosts the forms for all its departments needed for obtaining permissions, certificates or licenses, something that would surely take this site a long way.