Uttarakhand: A small mistake proved costly! Dehradun District Excise Officer attached to Headquarters

The matter of shifting 6 liquor shops which were creating problems in road safety is now seen to be weighing heavily on the District Excise Officer. In this case, instructions have now been given to attach District Excise Officer KP Singh to the Excise Headquarters. This action has been taken after District Magistrate Savin Bansal recommended the suspension of DEO.

In fact, in the month of March itself, during the meeting of the District Level Road Safety Committee, it was decided to shift six liquor shops responsible for road accidents and jams. Principal Secretary Excise had given instructions to shift these liquor shops by 31st July. But in the meantime, a liquor businessman had filed a petition in the High Court. On which District Excise Officer KP Singh sent his report to the Standing Council without taking approval from any competent officer.

It was told that in this report, the report was prepared against the decision of the Road Safety Committee. After this matter came to the notice of Dehradun District Magistrate Savin Bansal, he has sent a written letter to the government to conduct a high-level investigation, recommending the suspension of District Excise Officer KP Singh.

This matter is in his knowledge and the recommendation made by the District Magistrate for suspension will be investigated. If the matter is found worthy of suspending the officer in the investigation, then further action will be taken on it. At present, in this case, the District Excise Officer has been removed from the district and attached to the headquarters and soon another officer will be given the responsibility on the basis of seniority.

Anuradha Pal, Excise Commissioner Uttarakhand

This is not the first time that the Dehradun District Magistrate has corresponded with the Excise Department for action regarding liquor shops, even before this there have been controversies regarding the closure of liquor shops. However, this time now action can be taken against the District Excise Officer if the matter is found correct by the Excise Commissioner.

It is noteworthy that the Excise Commissioner has decided to take a decision on the recommendation of the Dehradun District Magistrate to suspend the DEO only after investigation. The matter is related to the transfer of 6 shops of Dehradun to another place. On which the District Excise Officer had also given a report to the Standing Council against the decision of the committee without taking it into cognizance of the higher officials.