The new draft Excise Policy, which the State Finance Minister Mahinder Singh Saathi formulated with so much fanfare, ran into rough weather when senior bureaucrats began picking holes in and objecting to the draft policy's proposals.

As per the new draft Excise Policy, Delhi would not only have Bangalore-style pubs selling beer and liquor, but all restaurants, general stores and even banquet halls in residential areas will be allowed to serve liquor. This government felt that an above-board policy would notch more revenue, much of which was lost due to the surreptitious sale of liquor.

But the Delhi bureaucracy's red-tape gagged the draft policy before it could be presented to the Assembly during the Budget session, dashing Saathi's hopes of giving Delhi's liquor trade a fillip. And with the bureaucracy sitting tight on the draft policy, there is no way it will see the light of day in its present form.

According to a senior bureaucrat, it is a half-baked policy which does not clarify or define either of the four places -- pubs, restaurants, general stores and banquet halls -- where they plan to permit the sale of liquor. ``Which we cannot allow,'' the bureaucrat said.

The first point of objection was raised against banquet halls. To begin with, banquet halls, which have mushroomed in almost every part of the city, in commercial as well as non-commercial areas, do not have any legal sanction.

``How can a government draft a policy allowing the sale of liquor in a public place which has no legal sanctity? It would mean the state government is legalising the existence of banquet halls in a round-about way. They may have come up due to public need, but a blanket policy for all is tantamount to inviting trouble,'' a senior official commented.

Banquet halls are not alone on the bureaucracy's blacklist. They picked on pubs as well saying that the policy does not specify where these pubs will come up whether in commercial areas, busy market-places/shopping centres or residential areas.

``We have no objections to pubs coming in Connaught Place. But how can we allow pubs in residential areas or in shopping centres which have sprung up near residential areas? Delhi already has a very high crime rate and this would add to existing problems,'' the official said.

Even restaurants don't seem to pass the litmus test. The officials objected to having an uniform policy for all restaurants. There's a restriction in the way liquor can be served in a restaurant. As per the rule-book, it has to be served away from the family area, which in itself is not easy to regulate, according to officials.

An open Excise Policy which encourages liquor sale and beer pubs in the city would have been a big step away from the still-prevalent licence raj in Delhi. And it would definitely take away much of the bureaucracy's so-called ``regulatory powers'', without which they feel the city's civic society would collapse.