India, April 15 -- The Delhi high court has permitted restaurant outlet Social in south Delhi's Hauz Khas to continue serving liquor after the Delhi excise department had banned the sale earlier this months citing absence of the required licenses.

Followed by an inspection on April 3, the excise department of Delhi government served a show cause notice (SCN) to the outlet on April 8 seeking explanation for serving liquor despite expiry of the "eating house license". The notice directed the restaurant to cease the sale of liquor till further orders.

A bench of justice Sachin Datta said that such an action was "ex facie misconceived", since the restaurant held a valid eating house license since 1994. The court found that the delay in rene...