Allahabad High Court bans hookah in UP restaurants, smoking zones

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday, 29 September, prohibited restaurants in Uttar Pradesh from operating hookah bars or providing hookah services, even in designated smoking areas. A division bench of Justices Shekhar B Saraf and Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary ruled that the practice violates Rule 4(3) of the Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules, 2008, as amended in 2017, read with the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (COTPA). The court held that a non-smoker's right to clean air under Article 21 overrides an establishment's right to trade under Article 19(1)(g).

The court rejected a proposed self-service model, ruling that preparing a hookah intrinsically involves service and cannot be treated as ordinary self-service. It also dismissed the argument that supplying hookah apparatus constitutes a rental. The court clarified that the Food Safety Department and municipal corporations lack jurisdiction to issue licences for hookah bars, only police have power under COTPA to search, seize, confiscate, and impose penalties. The Uttar Pradesh government has been urged to enforce the ban, including issuing a notification for stringent penalties. The ruling applies to 81 connected petitions. The court directed that a copy of the judgment be sent to the chief secretary and the director general of police.