Punjab Excise Laws and Regulatory Framework
What this domain tests
This section tests the Punjab Excise Act, 1914, the annual excise policy, licensing, and enforcement. Expect definitions, the licence-versus-permit distinction, powers of excise officers, and duty calculations.
Core rules
- The Act consolidates law on import, export, transport, manufacture, possession, and sale of intoxicating liquors and drugs.
- Excise duty is a tax on manufacture, import, transport, or sale of excisable articles. Excise revenue is wider: duty, licence fees, fines, and other receipts.
- No person may manufacture, possess, transport, import, export, or sell an excisable article without a licence or permit.
- The Excise Commissioner heads the department; AETCs and ETOs enforce at district level. The annual excise policy fixes licence classes, fees, quotas, and dry days.
- Alcoholic liquor for human consumption is outside GST, so Punjab excise duty continues on it.
Worked example
A wholesale consignment has 100 cases; each case has 12 bottles of 750 mL. Illustrative duty is ₹40 per litre plus a 10% surcharge. Total litres = 100 × 12 × 0.75 = 900 L. Basic duty = 900 × 40 = ₹36,000. Surcharge = ₹3,600. Total = ₹39,600. The trap is multiplying bottles or cases instead of converting to litres.
Traps that cost marks
- A licence authorises an activity; a permit authorises a specific movement. Do not use the terms interchangeably.
- Do not treat excise duty and excise revenue as synonyms.
- Dry-day and closing-hour breaches are enforced strictly even without proof of sale.
- GST does not cover alcoholic liquor for human consumption; excise duty remains.
Exam focus
Link each offence to the required licence, the enforcing officer, and the financial consequence.