Pernod Ricard moves SC to seek liquor licence in Delhi after HC drops plea
This story was originally published at 16:35 IST on 26 August 2026
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NEW DELHI – Pernod Ricard India Pvt. Ltd. has moved the Supreme Court seeking a licence to sell liquor in Delhi, challenging a Delhi High Court order that rejected its plea citing a pending investigation against the company. On May 29, the high court had said the pending investigation gives Pernod Ricard a criminal record under the New Delhi municipal rules, rendering it ineligible for a liquor licence in Delhi.
Last year, the excise commissioner rejected Pernod Ricard's L-1 liquor licence application, a decision upheld by the financial commissioner of Delhi this year. The authorities had said the company was an accused in the Delhi liquor policy case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.
Pernod Ricard had argued that the authorities wrongly treated the pending criminal case as equal to a criminal background. The company said no conviction order has been passed against it yet. By rejecting its applications on the mere pendency of a single prosecution, even though charges had not been framed, the authorities had washed away three decades of its unblemished track record and bona fide conduct, Pernod Ricard said. The rejection of the company's licence applications has contradicted the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the French liquor company said.
The excise department had argued that there is no fundamental right to get a licence and Pernod Ricard's applications were considered in accordance with law. The courts ought not to interfere in the decision of the department pertaining to the conferment of a licence, particularly that relating to liquor, it said. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Shubhayan Bhattacharya
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