CAG report flags lapses in quality control of Delhi’s liquor supply – ‘compliance reports from in-house labs’

The CAG report on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s excise policy, tabled in the Delhi assembly on Tuesday, flagged, among other discrepancies, that the national capital’s liquor wholesalers failed to submit mandatory quality tests verifying compliance with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms.

According to the report tabled in the Delhi assembly by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday, reports on water quality, harmful ingredients, heavy metals, and methyl alcohol were also not submitted for various brands.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, ‘Performance Audit on Regulation and Supply of Liquor in Delhi, ‘ has flagged ‘irregularities’ that point towards deficient cross-checks of the test reports. It also highlights cases of unreliable test certificates being submitted and accepted by the Delhi government’s excise department.

“Test reports for quality compliance were from unaccredited laboratories. Licences were issued to applicants of wholesale licensees (L1 & L1F) despite failure to submit test reports, fully compliant with the parameters laid down as per BIS norms,” it reads.

The CAG report on the AAP government’s 2021-22 excise policy also pointed out that in 51 per cent of foreign liquor test cases, reports were either older than one year, missing, or had no date.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government plans to table at least 14 such reports pertaining to the functioning of the AAP government in the assembly in the coming days.

“Out of a total of 385 test reports required to be submitted, 196 (50.91 per cent) test reports furnished were older than one year/or no test report was provided/date not mentioned. In one of the cases, a Test Report more than nine years old was accepted by the Excise Department for issue of a license. Thus, no quality claim can be made about the liquor actually supplied, as the reports were from entirely different, older batches,” the CAG report says on page number 52, flagging what it calls ‘violation of quality norms.’

The report emphasises that ensuring that the liquor supplied in Delhi conforms to prescribed quality standards is the responsibility of the excise department. It also says that the rules make it mandatory for the wholesalers to submit various test reports at the time of issue of licenses.

“Audit observed a number of instances where test reports were not compliant with BIS Specifications and the Excise Department issued licenses despite major shortcomings. Important test reports of water quality, harmful ingredients, heavy metals, methyl alcohol, microbiological tests reports etc., were not submitted for various brands,” the report reads highlighting the ‘Inadequate Quality Control’ in the executive summary.

‘Violating FSSAI guidelines’

The report also flagged that some test reports submitted by licensees were from labs not accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), violating FSSAI guidelines.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Act recognizes Alcohol as afood item. FSSAI regularly publishes a list of NABL-accredited laboratories. The parameters for testing alcoholic beverages is mentioned in Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulations, 2018. There are also separate BIS standards for testing various liquor types.

According to the CAG report, deficient test certificates were also noticed during the scrutiny of test-checked reports. The CAG of India says that there is an urgent need for the excise department should proactively monitor the quality of alcohol and frame stringent quality standards, and ensure compliance with the same.

The 208-page CAG report, divided into eight chapters, highlights the lapses in implementing the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, which eventually led to a loss of approximately ₹2,002 crore to the Delhi government.

The Delhi Excise Policy, introduced in November 2021, was pitched as a game-changer for Delhi’s liquor market. However, the policy faced criticism amid allegations of corruption and financial irregularities. Top AAP leaders in the Delhi government, including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia,were arrested in the case and eventually released on bail.

Quality Compliance Reports from in-house labs

Among other discrepancies on quality of liquor, the CAG report found that in at least 226 cases of Brand Registration (58.70 per cent), Quality Compliance Reports were provided from In-House laboratories or related companies or reports were not provided at all. Such reports did not represent an independent assessment of the quality of the liquor and were thus not dependable, it said.

“In 254 cases (65.97 per cent), the reports did not mention the international standard followed for testing compliance, or international standards were not applied, or reports were not provided at all. In the absence of such independent standard, it was difficult to establish the quality of liquor,” it reads.