Goa restaurant of Smriti Irani's daughter in troubled waters

The excise commissioner of Goa, Narayan M. Gad has issued a show cause notice to the city’s Silly Souls Cafe and Bar, run by Zoish Irani, Union Minister Smriti Irani’s daughter, for getting its license renewed through dubious means.

Advocate Aires Rodrigues, through an RTI found out that the license was renewed on June 22 this year using the Aadhaar card of Mumbai resident Anthony Dgama, who had died on May 17, 2021. The lawyer, through an enquiry, wants to get to the root of this incident, that he says was “orchestrated” by Irani’s family, the excise office and Assagao panchayat. The matter will be heard on July 29. Herald Goa reported that the Excise Commissioner has ordered the “excise licence holder and the complainant Adv Aires Rodrigues to be personally present” in the hearing.

The Wire quoted Rodrigues as saying, “fraudulent and fabricated documents were produced” for the license renewal.

An excise department official also told The Wire, “The application was signed by someone on behalf of the license holder with an undertaking that ‘please renew this license for the year 2022-23 and will transfer the said license within six months’.”

The lawyer also alleged that the excise department gave Irani’s bar a “foreign liquor” license and a “Indian-made foreign liquor and country liquor” license, even though the bar did not have a restaurant license yet. According to Herald Goa, Irani’s restaurant has violated the provisions of The Goa Excise Duty Act and Rules 1964.