If left to us, we will not allow the sale of hookah: Judges
Hookah bars in the city may soon go up in smoke. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) told Bombay High Court on Thursday that it would initiate action against hookah bars in “public interest”.
Municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak filed an affidavit in court, stating that restaurants and hotels selling hookah were doing so in violation of the licence granted to them, as well as in contravention of the cigarettes and other tobacco products Act. “In public interest, action in accordance with law will be initiated wherever hookah facilities are being offered,” Phatak said in a one-page affidavit.
The BMC crackdown on hookah joints got the HC’s nod. “If left to us, we will not allow the sale of hookah,” said Justice SB Mhase and Justice AA Kumbhakoni. The court, however, did not give any direction in light of Phatak’s assurance to take action against such joints.
The estimated number of hookah bars in the city is pegged at 4,000. Since June 20, action has been initiated against 59 such establishments. Restaurant and hookah bar owners are already crying foul against the BMC move to put them out of business.
While a petition challenging the civic body’s move is currently being drafted, their lawyer Rajiv Narula pointed out to the court that the cigarette Act itself permitted a restaurant with a seating capacity of more than 30 persons to have a smoking section. “Hookahs are permitted under the cigarettes Act,” Narula said in court.
BMC counsel Anil Sakhare pointed out that a hookah mix do contain tobacco and hence, is harmful to health. He showed judges samples of flavoured hookah mixes that had 0.5 per cent nicotine content and carried a health warning. Sakhare said that hookah bars were violating licence conditions, which prohibited lighting a live fire or naked flame anywhere other than the authorised kitchen. According to him ,the burning coal pieces that fuel a hookah were a safety hazard. He added that some bars were also violating provisions of the cigarettes Act, which stipulated that tobacco products could not be sold to persons below 18 years, or within a 100-metre radius of educational institutions.
Chowpatty restaurant Nukkad, which had moved court after BMC revoked its licence for selling hookah on Thursday agreed to give an undertaking that it would not serve hookah, and the HC quashed the BMC order revoking its license. The restaurant shares a compound wall with Wilson College.
