‘Plucked out of thin air’: Delhi lost Rs 2k crore due to controversial excise policy, says assembly panel

New Delhi: The implementation of the now-withdrawn 2021-22 excise policy in Delhi by the then AAP govt resulted in a loss of approximately Rs 2,002 crore to the state exchequer, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Delhi Assembly has stated in its report tabled in the House on Monday.The policy was “plucked out of thin air” and imposed upon the city, which turned out to be a total failure, according to the report.The policy was implemented from Nov 2021 and withdrawn with effect from Aug 31, 2022, after allegations of irregularities surfaced and led to a CBI probe.“Since the matter was under investigation by CBI/ED, as well as subject to court and departmental proceedings, the committee decided that its report would be based solely on CAG’s observations and the department’s responses. The report is independent and is neither influenced by nor intended to influence any ongoing judicial or departmental proceedings,” said PAC chairperson Ajay Mahawar, adding that “according to the CAG report and documents/information provided by the department, there is no doubt that in the implementation of the flawed excise policy, the role of then deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia appears to be highly questionable.”The report stated that the capital suffered losses to the tune of Rs 890 crore due to failure of retendering of liquor shops and a loss of Rs 144 crore to the capital due to “irregular” grant of waiver in license fee during COVID pandemic.A Delhi court in Feb this year discharged AAP chief and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Sisodia, former BRS MLC K Kavitha and 20 others in a corruption case related to the alleged excise policy scam, criticising the manner in which the probe was conducted by CBI and bringing the case to a halt at its very first stage of framing charges.Kejriwal and Sisodia approached the Supreme Court last week after the chief justice of Delhi high court rejected their request to transfer the CBI’s plea against their discharge in the case from the bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma to another judge.