India

Keralam Transfers Excise Commissioner Amid Licensing Controversy

By PTI

The Keralam government transferred Excise Commissioner Seeram Sambasiva Rao on Friday, following concerns raised by Excise Minister M Liju about the department’s issuance of bar and horti‑wine licences. Liju said the move was a routine administrative decision and not linked to his complaints. The General Administration Department issued an order moving Rao from his role as Excise Commissioner and Special Secretary in the Electronics and Information Technology Department to Special Secretary in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Department, with additional charge of the Backward Classes Development Department. The order also stated that the officer is relieved of the charge of Excise Commissioner with immediate effect and that the Additional Excise Commissioner will hold the charge until further orders. Liju had previously expressed dissatisfaction after three bars in Ernakulam and Kottayam districts received licences under the previous LDF government’s liquor policy. He had suspended two Excise Deputy Commissioners for granting those licences and had intervened to cancel a licence granted to a Chalakudy bakery chain to sell horti wine, a move allowed under the former regime. Liju announced that the UDF government’s new liquor policy would be presented by the end of the month. He told reporters that the transfer was not the first of its kind, noting that 35 civil servants from various departments had recently been transferred and this was the 36th such move. He also said the government had informed the High Court that no new licences would be issued until the new policy was announced.