A division bench of the Calcutta High Court, led by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam on Monday, upheld the order of a single bench of the court that said hookah bars could not be shut down till the state enacted a law banning them.

Monday's order by the bench of Chief Justice Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya followed an appeal by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) against the single bench's order.

The order was verbally pronounced in the court on Monday. A written order had yet to be uploaded on the website of the high court till Monday evening.

The single bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha had in an order last year said hookah bars could not be shut down till the state enacted a law to that effect. He was hearing a petition by the National Restaurant Association that petitioned the court challenging the move by police in Calcutta and Bidhannagar to shut down hookah bars.

The police action followed a comment by Calcutta mayor and state urban development minister Firhad Hakim.

The mayor said in December 2022 that the licence of all hookah bars in the city would be cancelled and no new licences would be issued. He said the move was prompted by multiple complaints of drug consumption in hookah bars.

Following the mayor's assertion, the police started raiding hookah bars in Calcutta. In Bidhannagar too, the authorities started acting against hookah bars.

Monday's order also upheld the single bench's order restraining the police from taking any action against hookah bars.

The National Restaurant Association had earlier argued in the court that the police’s decision to close hookah parlours was contrary to the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, which is a central law. Since hookah was not under the purview of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, the police could not shut down hookah bars, the association had said.

The division bench's order also held that if the state wanted to close hookah bars, it would have to enact a law banning them.