Now, patrons at restaurants won’t have to be irked by the occupants of the next table smoking hookah, while they enjoy their food, as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has banned hookah parlours in the city.
This decision was upheld by the Bombay high court on Wednesday and it has directed the state government to notify other corporations and municipal councils to implement the same circular.
As per the affidavit filed by Dr Anil Bandiwadekar, executive health officer, of the corporations states that on July 1, a circular has been issued incorporating terms and conditions of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and regulation of Trade and Commerce production Supply and Distribution) (COTPA), Act.
Under condition 35, “The licensee shall not keep or allow to keep or sell or provide any tobacco or tobacco related products in any form whether in the form of cigarette, cigar, bidis, or otherwise with the aid of pipe, wrapper or any other instrument in the licensed premises.”
The division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice GS Godbole, accepted the circular in totality and refused to alter it. The bench said, “On the last date of hearing of the petition, we had directed the BMC to incorporate the conditions of the COTPA act and accordingly it has been done.”
The court added that, “It would record its reasons of not interfering with the circular separately but directed the state government to direct other municipal corporation and councils in the state to implement and incorporate similar changes in the license issuing rules of eateries within one month.”
The orders were passed during the hearing of a petition filed by an NGO “Crusade Against Tobacco” alleging that hookah parlours were selling tobacco products, including hookahs, to minors and are also violating several other rules prescribed under the Act.
According to the PIL, none of the restaurants have separate smoking and non-smoking sections. This exposes non- smokers to second-hand smoking and is a clear violation of the provisions of the Act. It further said that the Supreme Court has banned smoking in public places after observing that a non-smoker cannot be compelled to be a victim of air pollution.
