Goa Excise Commissioner Amit Satija today suspended the two excise licences issued to Sandhya Hoble, the wife of Goa BJP Vice-President and OBC Corporation Chairman Anil Hoble along the Ribandar-Panaji causeway.
Rejecting Sandhya Hoble’s plea for more time to file her reply to the show cause notice issued to her last month, the Excise Commissioner suspended the licences and adjourned the hearing to 23rd January.
The Excise Commissioner’s action followed a complaint by Adv. Aires Rodrigues that a criminal case was registered on 12th July 2017 against Sandhya Hoble along with her husband Anil and son Milind by the North Goa Women Police Station under Sections 498-A, 323, 506 (ii) read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3 & 4 of the Dowry Prevention Act.
Drawing the attention of the Excise Commissioner that as per the amendment to Rule 90 of the Goa Excise Duty Rules notified by a notification dated 4th August 2016 no Excise licence can be granted to a person having a criminal case registered, Adv. Rodrigues in his complaint further pointed out that the Women Police Station after completing the investigation into the F.I.R have on 10th November 2017 charge sheeted the Hobles before the Panaji Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC).
Adv. Rodrigues in his complaint also stated that though the officials of the Excise department are fully aware of the F.I.R against the Hobles they have taken no action to revoke the Excise licences obviously because Anil Hoble is politically very well connected.
Adv. Rodrigues in his complaint has sought deterrent action against the erring officers of the Excise department who failed to act swiftly to uphold the law once the criminal case was registered against the Excise license holder Sandhya Hoble.
Ironically the amendment to the Excise Rules brought by the BJP in 2016 to debar criminally tainted persons from being issued Excise licences has now come to haunt its own party Vice-President Anil Hoble.
Meanwhile Anil Hoble has initiated the process of transferring the two Excise licences onto his brother Lavu’s name to save them from being revoked.
