Restaurants in Delhi have been allowed to serve herbal hookahs after the Delhi High Court accepted the National Restaurant Association of India’s plea that such products did not fall under the Control of Tobacco Products Act (COTPA).
A public interest litigation was filed by the World Lung Foundation, South Asia, alleging that restaurants serving hookahs were violating the provisions of the COTPA Act.
In a statement, NRAI said it had submitted to the court that the restaurants were obligated to adhere to provisions and rules framed under COTPA, but argued that as far as non-nicotine and non-tobacco hookah were concerned, the provisions of COTPA had no applicability and, therefore, no orders could be passed in this respect.
NRAI said that the division bench of Chief Justice of Delhi High Court had passed the detailed judgement on January 22, 2013 accepting the submissions of NRAI.
Restaurant operators could now start serving herbal hookahs in any part of their operations and the tobacco hookahs in the designated smoking areas, NRAI said in a statement.