Hookah bars will face raids, cops tell court

The city police on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that senior officers will conduct raids to ensure that anti-smoking laws are enforced against restaurants that illegally run hookah bars in the Capital.

“Deputy commissioners of police have been asked to conduct raids in restaurants where hookah bars are being run,” Najmi Waziri, counsel for Delhi Police, told a bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw.

The New Delhi Municipal Council and the municipal corporations also told the court that they have not provided licenses to restaurants to run hookah bars. The court also asked the MCDs and the city government to file their replies within two days to the PIL filed by NGO World Lung Foundation South Asia through its president G R Khatri.

The NGO sought “effective” implementation of anti-smoking laws at public places and a crackdown on restaurants running hookah bars. However, the National Restaurants Association of India on Wednesday moved an application seeking its impleadment as a party in the hearing of the PIL.