Ambala: Years old famous Phoenix Club at Ambala Cantt in which Commissioner Ambala Division hold the chair of President and the Deputy Commissioner hold the chair of Vice President was fined Rs 1 lakh allegedly served liquor in open without obtaining permission from Excise & Taxation Department  Haryana and without depositing required fee towards permit on the eve of celebrating a function ‘Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav’ in the memory of martyrs lost their lives for the independence of country by Chairman and members of the club. According to residents of area, function ‘Jashan-E- Azadi’ was being celebrated on the stage in open by artists carrying tricolor in their hands paying homage to martyrs lost their lives for the independence of country, whereas on the other hand large number of members of the club and visitors were dancing, drinking on the tunes of music carrying glasses filled with liquor  in their hand in front of the stage and the incident attracted headlines in few newspaper next morning which alerted the senior bureaucrats of Excise & Taxation Department in the state.

Ashutosh Rajan Collector Excise & Taxation department Haryana took a serious view of unwanted incident and investigation in the case was handed over to Alok Passi DETC Ambala who confirmed neither permission was sought from the Excise & Taxation department Haryana to celebrate function in open nor permit required in this regard was obtained as per norms and even prescribed permit fee was not deposited by the management of the club. Expressing deep concern over the incident Collector Excise & Taxation department Ashutosh Rajan referred the case to Shrikant Jaghav ADGP Ambala Division and Jashandeep Singh Randhawa SP Ambala when Chairman of the club failed to give any satisfactory reply as regard violating norms, celebrating liquor party in open without permission,  not obtained permit from Excise & Taxation department and without depositing permit fee thus caused revenue loss to the government and imposed Rs One lakh fine on the club, threatening to cancel bar license of the club in case amount of fine as well as permit fee will not be remitted early.