Jabalpur, September 24, 2026: The Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Division Bench of Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal has directed the state Excise Department to renew the licences of Som Distilleries Pvt Ltd and Som Distilleries and Breweries Limited within 15 days, bringing partial resolution to a legal dispute that began in February 2026 when the Excise Commissioner first suspended the companies’ operating licences.
Som Distilleries Pvt Ltd (SDPL) operates a distillery at Seha, Saharganj in Raisen district under manufacturing licence Form D-1 and bottling licence Form FL-9. The company has been operational for nearly four decades, employs over 1,500 personnel and has contributed excise and tax revenue exceeding ₹10,000 crore to the state exchequer over the years. Som Distilleries and Breweries Limited (SDBL) is a publicly listed company incorporated in 1994 with more than 1.13 lakh public shareholders, operating a brewery and related bottling operations at Roj-Rajak, also in Raisen district, under brewery licence Form B-3 and related licences. Both companies trade on BSE and NSE under the ticker SDBL.
The dispute arose from a 2023 Sessions Court judgment at Depalpur, Indore, in which certain individuals were convicted in a matter involving illicit liquor transport under forged permits. The Excise Commissioner suspended the companies’ licences on February 4, 2026, which the companies challenged before the High Court. A Single Bench of the court dismissed that petition on March 23, 2026, upholding the excise department’s action and observing that the liquor trade is not a fundamental right and that licence suspension when proportionate and within the statutory framework cannot be interfered with. Following the Single Bench order, the companies approached the Division Bench, which in April 2026 directed that renewal applications for 2026-27 must be considered independently and strictly in accordance with law.
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📄 Read Full Court Order — WP 22400/2026
The Excise Commissioner subsequently rejected the renewal applications vide order dated June 18, 2026. The companies challenged this rejection before the Division Bench, which also had the matter remanded back from the Supreme Court for a composite judgment on all pending reliefs. After hearing all parties including the state government, the Division Bench on September 24, 2026 allowed the writ petitions on the question of licence renewal, directing that SDPL’s Form D-1 and FL-9 licences and SDBL’s Form B-3, FL-9 and FL-9A licences be renewed within 15 days. Costs of ₹1 lakh each were imposed on the Government of Madhya Pradesh in both petitions.
On the separate question of the 2026-27 country liquor tender process and supply orders already issued to other bidders, the court declined to interfere, holding that the petitioners were technically ineligible at the time of the tender as they did not possess valid licences. The companies were granted liberty to pursue claims for damages separately as per law.
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