HYDERABAD: The State government on Tuesday issued a GO for the allotment of retail liquor (A4) shops in the State for the licence period 2023-25, from December 1, 2023, to November 30, 2025. Interestingly, the State government issued the GO four months ahead of the completion of the tenure of current A4 shops.
Sources in the Prohibition and Excise department said that the process of allotting A4 shops is issued well in advance to avoid potential conflict with the ensuing election code as the State Assembly elections are due before December.
There is no change in the number of shops, application fee, share of reservations, retail shop excise tax (RSET) slabs, or timings of operation of shops. All applicants need to deposit Rs 2 lakh
(non-refundable) payable through a demand draft for each application.
15 per cent reserved for Gouds
The number of A4 shops will be 2,620 among which 393 for Gouds (15 per cent), 262 for SCs (10 per cent) and 131 for STs (5 per cent) will be reserved.
The RSET is set at Rs 50 lakh, Rs 55 lakh, Rs 60 lakh, Rs 65 lakh, Rs 85 lakh and Rs 1.1 crore. As per the guidelines issued, individuals, partnership firms and companies are eligible to apply to the A4 shops, which will be allotted through a draw of lots.
Md Musharraf Ali Faruqui director of the Prohibition & Excise department directed the District Collectors to draw lots for the identification of shops allotted for Gouds, SCs and STs on August 3.
Additionally, he directed them to start the issuance of notification on August 4, the start of receipt of application (on all working days) on August 4, close of receipt of application on August 18 (6.00 pm), drawl of lots for selecting licencee on August 21, payment of 1st instalment of RSET on August 21 and 22, the release of stocks to new A4 shops on November 30, and the opening of new shops on December x1.