A division bench of the high court on Wednesday turned down an appeal by Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) against an order by a single-judge bench of the court barring police action against hookah bars.
The division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj upheld the judgment passed by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the court.
Justice Mantha had in January said in an order that hookah bars could not be shut down till the state enacted a law to that effect.
The order was given after the National Restaurant Association petitioned the court challenging the move by police in Kolkata and Bidhannagar to shut down hookah bars. The association’s contention was that the police’s decision was contrary to the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act.
On Wednesday, the division bench also said that since hookah was not under the purview of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, the police could not shut down hookah bars. The bench also held that if the state wanted to close hookah bars, it would have to enact a law banning them.
The KMC had appealed against Justice Mantha’s order saying that there was a provision in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980, that empowered the municipal commissioner to act against any nuisance in the city. The KMC said in the petition that hookah bars were a nuisance for Kolkata, said a civic official.
Firhad Hakim, Kolkata mayor, announced in December that no new licence would be issued for hookah bars and all licences that had been issued would be cancelled. The KMC later issued a notification cancelling all licences that were earlier issued to hookah bars.
Soon after, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation issued prohibitory orders for hookah bars in its area. Following the decisions of the two civic bodies, Kolkata and Bidhannagar police started raiding hookah bars in their areas.