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Informist, Friday, May 29, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected Pernod Ricard India Pvt. Ltd.'s plea seeking a license to sell liquor in Delhi, observing that there is a pending investigation against the company. The pending investigation gives Pernod Ricard a criminal record under the New Delhi municipal rules, rendering it ineligible for a liquor license in Delhi, the high court said.

 

Last year, the excise commissioner rejected Pernod Ricard's L-1 liquor license application, a decision upheld by the financial commissioner of Delhi this year. The authorities had said that Pernod Ricard 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 that 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 license applications has contradicted the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, Pernod Ricard said.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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