Odisha govt allows home delivery of liquor; levies Special COVID Fee

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government allowed home delivery of liquor by the existing ON and OFF shop licensees of IMFL and beer situated in areas other than containment zones and shopping malls from May 24.

However no excise licensees of any type have been allowed to sell liquor across the counter or in their premises.

A Special Covid Fee has been introduced by amending the relevant rules and increased the MRPs of all types of foreign liquor and beer by 50% of the MRPs prevailing last year (2019-20).

The additional revenue will be utilised in treatment of Covid-19 patients and other activities.

Home delivery of liquor can be taken up by retailers directly and also through reputed food aggregators, standard technology platforms, delivery service providers etc. acting as retail aggregators.

ON/OFF shop licensees will prominently display their phone/mobile/whatsapp no./email id/UPI details for receiving the orders and facilitating digital payments outside their shop.

OSBC website (www.osbc.co.in) will also display the district wise list of ON/OFF shops licensees along with their details.

The product-wise latest MRP will also be displayed on the website. The orders for home delivery of liquor can be received by the retailers over phone or through SMS, whatsapp, email etc.

Retailers have to ensure that there is no crowding in front of their shops.

The food aggregators, standard technology platforms, delivery service providers acting as retail aggregators for the purpose of home delivery of liquor can be engaged by retailers only when they have taken NOC (No Objection Certificate) from Excise Commissioner, Odisha for this purpose.

The list of agencies granted NOC by Excise Commissioner will be published in the website of OSBC(Odisha State Beverage Corporation Ltd).

The retailers/aggregators shall abide by the MRP notification issued by OSBC Ltd. from time to time failing which appropriate legal action shall be initiated.

No extra charge beyond notified MRP plus delivery charges (as notified by Excise Commissioner) shall be demanded/collected from consumers.

In case of electronic payment (inter-bank transaction/credit card etc.), any nominal commission charged by the bank can also be realised from the customer.

Excise Commissioner has been authorised to decide on the rates for delivery charges from time to time. The ceiling notified by him at present is Rs. 100/- for orders upto Rs. 1000/- and thereafter Rs. 25/- for every additional Rs. 500/- order value. In no case the delivery charge will exceed Rs. 300/-.

The Aggregators can fix their own rates subject to above ceiling.

Normal timing for Home delivery would be between 7 AM to 6 PM. Orders are expected to be delivered within 6 hours.

The retailers and other agencies involved in home delivery have to abide by the legal provisions of maximum quantity of liquor which can be transported in each delivery.

They will also have to develop an appropriate mechanism to enforce the legal age of drinking & other restrictions imposed by law in the state.