THE MAHARASHTRA COUNTRY LIQUOR (IMPORT AND SALE BY WHOLESALE) RULES, 1975.

These rules, may be called the Maharashtra Country Liquor (Import and Sale by Wholesale) Rules, 1975.

They shall extend to the whole of the State of Maharashtra.

 “Act ” means the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949;

“Authorized Officer ” means an Officer of the Prohibition and Excise Department, authorized by the State Government to grant passes for the import of country liquor;

“ Chemical Analyzer ” means the Director, Forensic Science Laboratory and Chemical Analyzer to the Government of Maharashtra or Government Analyst, Drugs Control Laboratory, Bombay or any other Officer appointed by the State Government as Chemical Analyzer for the purposes of these rules;

“ Country liquor ” means liquor manufactured either by the process of distillation or by compounding or blending spirits, with or without essence, colouring and flavouring substance, and does not include country liquor which is declared for the purposes of the Act, to be foreign liquor, under the proviso to clause (127) of section 2 of the Act;

“ duty ” means excise duty or countervailing duty as defined in clause (14) of section 2 of the Act;

“ duty paid country liquor ” means country liquor on which the excise or countervailing duty under the Act has been paid, and includes country liquor which is exempted from such duty;

“ Form ” means a Form appended to these rules;

“ Import pass ” means a pass granted by the Authorized Officer for the import of duty paid country liquor;

“ license ” means a license granted under these rules for the import and sale by wholesale of duty paid country liquor; 

“ licensed premises ” means premises in respect of which a license to import country liquor from other parts of India and sell it by wholesale in the State has been granted under these rules;

“ place of export ” means a place in India outside the State of Maharashtra, from which country liquor is to be imported into the State of Maharashtra; 

“ retail license ” means a person holding a license in Form C.L. III or C.L./F.L/ TOD/III under the Maharashtra Country liquor Rules, 1973, to sell country liquor by retail;

“ sale by wholesale ” means sale of duty-paid country liquor in quantities not less than eight liters at a time to a wholesale or retail licensee;

“ Superintendent ” means a Superintendent of Prohibition and Excise;

“ Wholesale licensee ” means a person holding a license in Form C.I.W. II under these rules to sell duty paid country liquor by wholesale,

On receipt of an application under rule 3, the Collector shall verify the particulars given therein and satisfy himself that the building or rooms proposed for storing and selling imported duty paid country liquor by wholesale conform to the requirement of rule 5. He shall also make such other inquiries as he deems fit and which are incidental to the grant of the license, and shall forward the application to the State Government with his remarks.

On receipt of the application under sub-rule (1), the State Government may, after making such inquiries as it thinks fit and if it is satisfied that there is no objection to grant the license, on payment by the applicant of the license fee of Rs. 2,000 by order direct the Collector to grant the license in Form ‘ C.I.W.II ’ to the applicant; and shall forward a copy of such order to the Commissioner and the Commissioner, Food and Drugs Administration in the State and thereupon, the license in Form ‘ C.I.W. II ’ shall be issued by the Collector of the district in which the Applicant desires to locate his licensed premises. A duplicate copy of the license shall be forwarded by the Collector to the State Government for its record and the third copy of the license shall be kept by the Collector on his record.

No license under sub-rule (2) shall be granted for a period beyond 31st March next following the date of the commencement of the license :

Provided that in respect of license granted prior on 1st day of April 1975 the period of the license shall extent up to 31st March 1976. 

Every licensee shall deposit with the Collector either in cash or in Government securities, an amount of Rs. 5,000 (Rupees five thousand only) for the proper observance of the rules and conditions of the license.

Any licensee desiring to renew his license shall make an applicant in Form ‘ C.I.W.I ’ to the State Government through the Collector of the district in which his licensed premises are located at least three months before the expiry of the license accompanied by a challan evidencing payment of a fee of twenty-five rupees for such application. Thereupon the provisions of sub-rules (2), (3) and (4) of this rule shall apply as they apply in relation to the application for the grant of a licence.

The wholesale licensee shall import only such quantity of duty paid country liquor as may be permitted to be imported by the State Government from time to time after obtaining the necessary import permit from the Collector by following the procedure laid down in Chapter III. It shall not exceed the quantity mentioned in the license. 

The licensee shall not import country liquor from any source other than those distilleries or bonded warehouses which are approved by the State Government from time to time and, country liquor to be imported for sale by wholesale shall be of such specification or standards as may be prescribed by the State Government from time to time, and country liquor to be imported for sale by wholesale shall be of such specification or standards as may be prescribed by the State Government from time to time

On receipt of an application made under rule 14, the Authorised Officer shall make such inquires as he may deem necessary and if he sees no objection and if the quantity applied for does not exceed the total quota sanctioned by the State Government in this behalf may grant an import pass in Form ‘ C. I. W. V.’ to the extent permitted under rule 6, provided that the duty liveable under the Act on such country liquor has been paid and receipted challan evidencing payment of such duty has been produced.

Every import pass granted under sub-rule (1) shall show designation the officer by whom and the places at which the consignment of country liquor be imported is to be inspected en route and examined at the place of import under rules 19 and 20 respectively. Incases of import by road, one of the officers shall be the Prohibition and Excise Officer in charge of the tahsil of the place where the consignment is to first enter the State of Maharashtra. In cases of import by rail direct to the place of import, one of the inspecting officers shall be the Prohibition and Excise Officer in charge of the place where the railway station to which the consignment is to be booked is situated.

Every import pass granted under sub-rule (1) shall be in four parts. PART -1 shall be retained on the records of the Authorized Officer issuing the pass PART II and III shall be sent by post to the Excise Officer of the place of export with a request to endorse on part III the quantity of country liquor in liters and proof liters issued to the importer, and thereafter, to return that Part III to the Authorized Officer issuing the Part IV shall be handed over to importer or his agent issuing the pass, and PART IV shall be handed over to the importer or his agent together with the certificate in Form ‘ Certificate I ’ annexed thereto.

No import pass under sub-rule (1) shall be granted unless the applicant produces written proof that country liquor is to be imported from a distillery or its bonded warehouse which has been approved by the State Government.

The Importer or his agent shall on arrival of the consignment at the place appointed for its examination and shown in the import pass, produce Part IV of the import pass and certificate thereto before the Examining Officer named in the import pass. The examining Officer or his nominee shall examine the consignment and satisfy himself that —

(a) The number marks and other particulars shown on each receptacle or package forming part of the consignment tally with those shown in the certificate issued by the Inspecting Officer ;

(b) The seal on each such receptacle or package are intact and that have not been tampered with in transit ;

(c) the quantity contained in each receptacle or package as guaged by him tallies with that shown in the aforesaid certificate and the note made by the Inspecting Officer ;

(d) the number of bottles contained in the receptacles or packages is correct, and that seals of the bottle or receptacles, as the case may be are intact ; and

(e) duty and any other fee payable under the Act has been paid correctly on the quantity of country liquor imported. 

If on examination of the consignment under sub-rule (1), the Examining Officer finds that the quantity contained in each or any of the receptacles or packages is less than that shown in the certificate issued sub-rule (3) of rule, 15 and the deficiency exceeds the quantity which is allowed as wastage in the State from which the consignment has been imported, the Examining Officer shall ascertain from the Officer at the place of export the amount of duty leviable on such deficiency and submit his detailed report to the Commissioner.

The Examining Officer shall also draw samples not exceeding 375 ml from each variety and batch of country liquor imported for the purpose of analysis and shall send such samples for analysis to the Drug Control Laboratory, Bombay, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Commissioner in this behalf. 

On receipt of the report of the analysis from the Drugs Control laboratory, Bombay, if the Authorized Officer finds that —

(a) the imported country liquor is of the standard prescribed for the country liquor allowed to be manufactured and sold in the State of Maharashtra; and

(b) duty calculated according to the strength certified by the Chemical Analyzer has been paid.

He shall allow the whole sale licensee to sell the country liquor by wholesale, in accordance with the conditions of his Import and Sale by Wholesale License. 

Where the Authorized Officer finds that the duty has been paid according to the lower strength than the strength reported by the Chemical Analyzer, he shall calculate the amount of duty according to the strength certified by the Chemical Analyzer, and direct the importer to pay the differential amount of duty and on payment of such differential amount of duty he shall release the consignment for sale as provided to in sub-rule (1).

Where the Authorized Officer finds that the country liquor is not of the standard prescribed, he shall seal the packages of receptacles of country liquor and report through the Collector of his district, to the Commissioner for further orders in the matter.