Patnaik to take on hookah parlours

Police commissioner Arup Patnaik, who was summoned by the Bombay high court on Monday, has assured that he will personally look into the menace of mushrooming hookah parlours in the city and take necessary action against the law offenders.

Patnaik, who appeared in the HC on Monday afternoon after a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice D G Karnik summoned him, sought two days' time to reply to grievances made by social activist Vincent Nazareth, alleging inaction on the part of Khar police officers.

"The report (about Nazareth's complaint) has just come to me today. I will study it and do the needful by May 5," Patnaik told the court.

Chief Justice Shah told the top cop that Nazareth has filed a grievance that his complaints are not recorded and advance intimation is given to hookah parlour owners before a raid is conducted. Assistant government pleader K R Belosay informed the court that the police has taken serious note of the increasing number of hookah parlours in the city and 327 cases have been registered since January 1, 2010.

An affidavit filed by Rajkumar Vhatkar, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), operations, CP office, stated: "It is true that menace of hookah parlours is growing in Mumbai city. The police has swung into action immediately. Sixty eight parlours between Colaba, Dahisar and Mulund have been raided and 327 cases have been registered in the city since January 1, 2010under the provisions of the Bombay Police Act."

The affidavit further stated that a circular issued by the CP on December 9, 2010, directed all police stations to take strict action against hookah parlours and smoking in public places under the provisions of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act. "Khar police (against whom petitioner has alleged inaction) raided 21 places in 2010. The police is very vigilant in this matter and is taking necessary action," stated the affidavit.


The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by NGO Crusade Against Tobacco and its member Vincent Nazareth. The PIL filed early this year says that several hookah parlours have come up in Mumbai in violation of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Act (COPTA). The PIL has mentioned that Sagar Restaurant at Pali Hill in Bandra also runs a hookah parlor, which is in violation of COPTA.

The petition said the restaurant was also serving hookah directly in the sheesha in a loose form and not packaged as required by the Packaging and Labelling Rules, 2008.