New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by French liquor giant Pernod Ricard challenging the Delhi government’s decision denying it a wholesale liquor license.HC said the company been declared ineligible owing to its criminal antecedents. (HT Archive)A bench of justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav dismissed the petition after Delhi government counsel Sameer Vashisht, along with advocate Avni Singh, said that the company been declared ineligible owing to its criminal antecedents.A detailed copy of the order is awaited.The company’s plea challenged a February 2 order of Delhi’s financial commissioner, which had upheld the excise commissioner’s May 9, 2025, decision rejecting the company’s L1 licence application (for wholesale distribution) due to pending criminal proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy case.The company contended that it is the Indian subsidiary of the world’s second-largest liquor manufacturer with three decades of bona fide operations across India which had been disregarded merely due to the pendency of a single ED prosecution.“By rejecting the petitioner’s applications, owing to the mere pendency of a single prosecution (where even charges have not been framed, let alone there being a prosecution, the licensing authorities have wished away three (3) decades of the petitioner’s unblemished track record and bona fide conduct. Such rejection inverts the presumption of innocence and has been sought to be sustained on an absurd and legally unfounded finding that such presumption is not available in licensing matters,” the petition stated.It further argued that the financial commissioner upheld the rejection on fresh grounds, including the need to safeguard public revenue. The company contends this is not a ground for ineligibility under Section 13 of the Excise Act, which specifies two qualifying criteria for a license: possession of good moral character and no criminal background.Pernod Ricard also asserted that the prosecution, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), became legally untenable following the trial court’s February 27 order discharging 23 accused in the Delhi excise policy case investigated by the CBI.