New Delhi, Feb 9 (PTI) The Delhi government Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that service of herbal hookah is permitted in bars subject to compliance with COVID-19 appropriate protocol and other relevant conditions.
Delhi government counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi told Justice V Kameswar Rao that the case of the petitioner — a restaurant-cum-bar owner challenging the ban on servicing herbal hookahs — is covered by the order passed by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority on February 4 which has allowed bars and restaurants to operate at 50 per cent seating capacity.
The counsel stated that the petitioners have to give an undertaking to the court that they would strictly follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour while serving herbal hookah in terms of the court’s order passed in November last year.
The judge stated that the order permitting the petitioner to serve herbal hookah shall be effective till the next date of hearing.
The petitioner M/S Punter House Cafe, represented by lawyer Anubhav Singh, argued that authorities interfering with the sale and service of herbal flavoured hookahs in restaurants was in violation of Articles 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India.
The court also directed the Delhi government to file its counter affidavit to the petition which has challenged an August 3, 2020 order passed by the Health and Family Welfare Department banning the use of hookah, with or without tobacco, in public places on account of the pandemic.
Tripathi said that smoking was prohibited in public places under the law and since restaurants and bars also qualify as public spaces, service of hookah was banned by the Delhi government.
On November 11, while considering the order of the Health Department, the court had opined that COVID-19 restrictions cannot be permitted to continue at the cost of livelihood and allowed the sale and service of herbal hookahs.
The court had clarified that it was granting permission to service herbal hookah as an interim relief and it was subject to the then petitioners giving an undertaking to it that they would strictly follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour while serving herbal hookah.
The Delhi government, in its affidavit filed in that batch of petitions, had stated that the “very nature of the mechanism of hookah increases the risk of transmission of the virus” and COVID-19 infected smokers can spread the virus through floating of contaminated aerosol particles in the air. PTI ADS SA
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.