CENTRAL PROVINCES MEMORANDUM.
79
The sole monopoly of wholesale vend is given either for the whole district in lump or
for each tahsil separately. If a single contractor is licensed for an entire district, he must
keep an agent at each tahsil to sell on his behalf to retail vendors.
Tenders are invited annually in each district by the 1st November: they must state—
(1) what fee per seer, in addition to the direct duty, the applicant is prepared to pay for
the monopoly of wholesale vend;
(2) that the applicant is acquainted with and is prepared to comply with all the con-
ditions of the wholesale license;
(3) what security he is prepared to furnish for the due execution of his contract.
The right of refusing the highest or any tender is always reserved and the acceptance of a
tender by the Deputy Commissioner is, as noted above, subject to the confirmation of the
Commissioner of Excise.
The direct duty is Rs. 2 per seer, except in Sambalpur and the S.-E. part of the Raipur
district, where it is Re. 1.
3. Supply of ganja.—As soon as the acceptance of a tender for the wholesale ganja con-
tract of any district has been confirmed by the Commissioner of Excise, the Deputy Commis-
sioner, Nimar, is informed of the name of the contractor, the district to which his contract
relates and the average annual consumption of ganja in that district. The contractor is then
permitted to buy his ganja at the Khandwa store. The purchase by any individual vendor
of an unnecessarily large stock, especially towards the cl ose of a year, is reported to the Com-
missioner of Excise.
When a registered wholesale vendor applies to the moharrir of the store for leave to take
out ganja from his stock, the excise darogha, Nimar, or in his absence, the tahsildar of
Khandwa or his naib, is at once informed of the fact. The official who receives the intima-
tion proceeds as soon as possible to the store, and with the assistance of a retail vendor or of
another wholesale vendor and in the presence of the person whose ganja is to be issued selects
from the latter's stock such ganja as seems fresh and of good quality (as compared with the
average of the year's supply) up to the quantity which the owner desires to despatch. The
selected ganja is then given out for immediate cleaning. All refuse resulting from the
process is destroyed.
The moharir and the police guard are responsible that only ganja thus passed for issue
by the excise darogha, tahsildar or naib-tahsildar, is cleaned and prepared for despatch.
The cleaned ganja is sealed up in hampers, which are weighed and numbered in the presence
of the tahsildar or other official appointed by the Deputy Commissioner to supervise weigh-
ment and packing: the consignment is then forwarded to its destination under a transport
pass, duplicate of which is sent to the tahsildar of the tahsil for which the ganja is intended.
After a consignment of ganja received at the head-quarters of a district or tahsil has
been weighed and checked with the invoice, the tahsildar, before placing it in store, examines the
quality of the consignment. If any hamper is found to contain ganja which is not fresh or is
of bad quality, it is carefully marked and a report of the fact is submitted to the Commis-
sioner of Excise through the Deputy Commissioner. No issues are made from these hampers
so long as there is good ganja in stock sufficient for the local demand. Ganja finally set aside
is kept until the close of the year, when it is disposed of in accordance with the orders of the
Deputy Commissioner, under condition 12 of the wholesale license. Ganja condemned at
the Khandwa store-house is disposed of under the orders of the Commissioner of Excise.
4. Realization of duty and check of wholesale vendor's stock.—Under the conditions of
the license all ganja brought by the wholesale vendor into the district must be covered by a
transport pass or by an import license: the ganja so brought is lodged in a store-house belong-
ing to the licensee, one key of which is kept by the tahsildar, and it is issued from time to time
to him or his agent by the tahsildar. His stock of ganja is therefore completely under
control, and none of it can escape paying the duty leviable on it, such duty being the fee per
seer (including the direct duty) which he has agreed to pay.
The wholesale vendor is required to maintain a register of his outside balance and of his
sales of ganja. This is examined and compared with a corresponding tahsil register from
time to time by the excise darogha, in order to obtain information as to the quantity taken to
the several shops.
Ganja is issued once a fortnight. It is well cleaned before being given out, and the
stalks and other refuse separated in cleaning are at once destroyed. The quantity so issued
constitutes the outside balance of the wholesale vendor for current sale to retail vendors.
On each occasion on which a fresh supply of ganja is issued it is the duty of the tahsildar
(1) to verify the outside balance by actual weighment, and see whether it corresponds with the
balance shown in the wholesale vendor's sale register, (2) to verify the balance under double
lock by counting the hampers, and (3) to realize the duty on all ganja sold by the wholesale
vendor to retail vendors since the issue of the last fortnightly supply.