Department of Commercial Tax (Excise), Govt. of Chhattisgarh : Allotment of Liquor Shops

Revenue generated by applications for liquor shops before computerization of
allotment process was very low. In fact only 11 crore were generated till the
year 2003. There were a number of inconsistencies and issues in the manual
allotment process like low transparency, prospective bidders were stopped by
liquor barons, clashes between bidders during allotment process leading to law
and order situtation, and very high risk of manipulation.

In order to overcome the above mentioned shortcomings, a software to automate
draw process is developed by NIC. This software is thoroughly tested and is open
for third-party testing to increase faith and enhance transparency.

The software binaries are encrypted in front of authorities using MD5
algorith and a unique MD5 key is distributed to all the districts. The draw
process is demonstrated before all the participants and in the presence of
district collector and observing officer deputed from the state department.

Large projectors and video recording is done for any post-verification
purpose. Draw process itself is divided into two parts: mock draw and real draw
using same software, and real data. This is done to gain faith of participants
as they are allowed to seek any number of mock draws.

In real draw, three prospective licenses are drawn one after another, out of
all the applicants for each group so that if the first aspirant becomes
ineligible, subsequent name will be considered for allotment of liquor shops in
that group.