HIGH COURT ORDER
POST NEWS NETWORK
Cuttack, May 14: Beer companies should provide the alcoholic beverage to the state government at last year’s offer price, the Orissa high court ruled Thursday, in an interim order hurting a government move.
This has come as a relief to beer lovers, deprived of the drink following a tiff between beer companies and the state government over offer price. The court posted the next hearing of the case to July 16. The decision of the high court would give some relief to beer manufacturers as well.
Wednesday, the court had deferred for a day the hearing of the case filed by five major beer manufacturing companies against the state government’s new excise policy. The companies opposed the reduction in offer price of beer by 20 per cent as per the new policy.
Offer price is the price at which beer manufacturers supply the drink to state-owned Orissa state beverages corporation (OSBC). The breweries had refused to sign the mandatory pact with OSBC in protest against the cut in the offer price, leading to a twin crises — shortage of beer in the state, that too in the summer season when it is the most-favoured drink, and a sharp fall in excise revenue of the government.
Discussions between beer manufacturers and the state government did not yield any result, following which the manufacturers approached the high court.