Gurgaon School A Liquor Store House - 708 Bottles Of Scotch, Worth Rs 14 Lakh, Found
By Ni3, Section Gurgaon News
Posted on Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 02:51:32 AM EST
THE LAW does not allow liquor to be consumed, served or even stored less than 200 metres around a school premises. This is common knowledge. But authorities of a school in Gurgaon were left high and dry because they chose to ignore this basic rule
Early this week, the Gurgaon excise department acted on a tip-off and carried out araid at the reputed Starex International School near National Highway 8. The team found over 700 bottles of imported Scotch, worth Rs 14 lakh, stashed inside the office of principal Rita Walson.
"We had got information about alcohol being kept inside Starex school in Binaula village. But we did not know if it was afalse alarm or not. Our team raided the school late on Monday," said Gurgaon excise commissioner Ashok Sharma.
Sharma said his team was "shocked" to find 708 bottles of Scottish Knight. According to sources in the excise department, the bottles were stored there by the school's chairman, S. Mohinder Singh, who also runs aliquor business.
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"Initially, the staff present during the raid did not allow us onto the school premises. We forced our way in and found alocked room inside the principal's office. The estate manager of the school said he did not have the key to the room, so we broke open the door. We were shocked to see so many bottles," said an official who was part of the team.
"We took statements of the people present at the school during the raid. They said Singh owned acompany called Starex Import Export Private Limited, which had the licence to operate aliquor business in Delhi, but not in Haryana. So even if he kept the alcohol in any other place in Gurgaon, it would still be illegal," an official said.
The excise department has sent ashow- cause notice to the principal and attached copies to other authorities, including the Central Board of Secondary Examinations.
In a reply to the excise department, Singh admitted to keeping liquor in the school. He was fined Rs 3.15 lakh and all the liquor bottles were seized, sources said.
The school authorities said in their reply to the department that the licence of Singh's Delhibased company was cancelled three months ago, because of which the bottles were shifted to the school premises.
The excise department said it had not ruled out the possibility that the Scotch was being supplied to different clients from the school. ]
The chairman was not available for comment.
Source: mailtoday.in 17/July/2008
