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Kerala Guidelines for Sale of Alcoholic Beverages

bevq bevco kerala

GUIDELINES FOR SALE OF LIQUOR FROM FL1, FL3 AND FL11 LICENSEES THROUGH THE VIRTUAL QUEUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF KSBC

Instructions for compliance of Covid-19 Standards.

Government as per GO Rt. No 293/2020/ID dated 18/4/2020 issued by Industries Department of Government of Kerala has prescribed standard operating procedure/conditions which are to be followed by Industrial units and other commercial activities in the state , while resuming operations, the following shall be strictly complied with:

  1. The premises of all FL1/FL3/FL11 Licensees should be disinfected completely using permitted disinfectants before sale of sale of liquor.
  2. Use of masks, gloves, hand sanitisers etc by all the staff working at FL9 warehouses, FL 1 retail shops and FL3 and FL 11 licensees shall be ensured. Further, frequent washing of hands using soap/hand wash shall also be ensured.
  3. There should not be any crowd at the liquor vending counter.
  4. The social distancing norms of 6 ft between two customers as prescribed by government shall be strictly ensured by the licensees.
  5. Customers shall be thermally scanned and those found with fever or other symptoms shall not be allowed to enter the premises.
  6. Not more than 5 customers at a time are to be allowed to be present at the sales counter.
  7. Persons without e-token should not be allowed to gather near the sales counter
  8. Necessary security and safety measures need to be taken by all licensees.

Instructions for functioning of Liquor Sales Counters at FL1/FL3/FL I I licenses and operation of queue management system Government as per GO (Ms) No. 41 /2020/TD dated 18/5/2020 has issued directions regarding sale of liquor in the state through the FL1, FL3 and FL1l licensed premises during the lock down, till such time as may be prescribed by government. In the said order, the following are prescribed:

  1. The sale of liquor in the state through the FL I /FL3/FL11 licenses shall be made only through the Virtual Queue Management system.
  2. For this, the Managing Director, Kerala State Beverages (M&M) Corporation Ltd shall develop a suitable mobile application for implementing the Virtual Queue Management system for control of customers at the sales counter.
  3. All FL3/FL11 licensees shall sell liquor in parcel (sealed bottles) only and at the MRP price.
  4. Sale of liquor shall be made by FL I / FL3/ FL 11 licensees between 9.00 AM to 5 PM only.

Accordingly, the following instructions are hereby issued for compliance by all, FL1/ FL3/FL11 licensees participating in the Virtual Queue Management system for sale of liquor in the state during till such time as prescribed by Government:

  1. e-Token for sale of liquor from FL 1, FL3/ FL 11 licenses shall be issued only from the Virtual Queue Management (VQM) system maintained by KSBC.
  2. Sale of liquor from FLUFL3/FL1 1 licenses shall be made only against the e-token issued from the VQM system and no sale of liquor without token is permitted. 
  3. The quantity of liquor to be sold to each e-token holder shall not exceed the maximum quantity prescribed in the Abkari Act and Rules. 
  4. The sale of liquor from FL3/FL11 shall be effected only in sealed bottles.
  5. Liquor shall be sold by the FL I /FL3/FLII licensees only between 9.00 AM and 5.00 PM.
  6. Once the customer purchases liquor, he will not be eligible for further purchase of liquor through VQM system for the next 4 days, ie, he will be eligible for purchase of liquor only on the 5th day.
  7. In no case, more than 5 persons shall stand before the counter for purchase of liquor. For this, the participating licensees shall make necessary arrangement for deployment of security guards to manage the same.
  8. Licensees falling under red zone or other containment areas, where restriction of commercial activities exists, the VQM system will accordingly be disabled for issue of e-token in those areas and no sale of liquor shall be made by licensees falling in such areas till the categorisation changes. If the licensed premises falls within a containment zone or if any of the premises of the licensee is used as Covid-19 treatment/quarantine centre by the District Administration at any point of time, the concerned licensee is duty bound to intimate the same to the Corporation’s head office either by phone or mail within the shortest possible time on the same day itself.
  9. All FL1/FL3/FL II licensees shall upload the available stocks at each license on the close of each day in the VQM.
  10. A11 FL3/FL11 licensees shall ensure that the sale of liquor under this special provision shall be made from a special counter opened for the purpose.
  11. Sale of liquor other than to the e-token holders is strictly prohibited for all the participant licensees.
  12. Consequent to the revision in sales tax rates on liquor by government as per Ordinance No. 33 of 2020 published in Extra Ordinary Gazette No. 1197 dated 16/5/2020, the revised MRP at which liquor is to be sold is displayed in the official website of the Corporation www.ksbc.kerala.gov.in.
  13. For booking an e-token in VQM system by a customer through the Mobile App in a smart phone, a QR code based e-token will be generated and will be available in the smart phone of the customer. In the licensee side, another Mobile App needs to be installed and the customer’s e-token will be verified through QR Code scanner associated with this App.
  14. For booking an e-token in VQM system by a customer through feature phone by SMS , a code will be sent to the customer’s mobile phone as SMS. In the licensee side, another Mobile App need to be installed and the customer’s SMS code will be verified through this App.
  15. Detailed Standard operating procedure for use of virtual queue management system both mobile and SMS based system applicable for smart phone and feature phone will be issued separately.
  16. The functioning of the FL1/FL3/FL11 licenses shall be strictly in compliance with the provisos in the Abkari Act and Rules.
  17. Any modifications to the guidelines above as and when required will be intimated in due course.The above guideline are to be strictly adhered to by all the participating
    licensees without fail.C G. SPAR JA KUAMR IPS
    MANAGING DIRECTOR

Information courtesy of Kerala State Beverages (M & M) Corporation LTD 
Download the above order as a PDF

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