deleting non-existent ref via push

Hello,

Pushing to delete a non-existent ref (git push origin :refs/heads/foo)
works without error, except for a warning that the remote is "Allowing
deletion of corrupt ref".  By "works" I mean all hooks are also
executed.

Is this expected/supported behaviour?  Can I rely on it continuing to
work, especially in terms of executing hooks.

Seem like a great way to "poke" a remote repo into executing hooks
without having to make a dummy change and push :-)

-- 
Sitaram