HC notice to Delhi government over bars near school

The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notice to the city government on a plea seeking closure of two bars which are within a 75-metre radius of a senior secondary school.

A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul also sought a response from the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and the bars' owners while posting the matter for Sep 30.

The plea sought cancellation of the bars' licenses and the bench asked the city government on how permission was granted to them to run bars near the school in Roop Nagar area.

Advocates Shiv Charan Garg and Prem Garg appearing for Delhi resident Nawal Kishore, who filed the public interest litigation (PIL), said the authorities deliberately issued licenses to the two bars overlooking the fact that they were being set up within a 75-metre radius of a school.

Garg said the two bars - Bromfy Public House and Urban Hub - had come up in 2013 near the Roop Nagar Senior Secondary School.

As per law, no intoxicants can be sold within a radius of 75 metres of a school or a temple under the Delhi Intoxicants License and Sales rules, 1976.

He further said the presence of the bars near the school was a corrupting influence on impressionable students.

The petitioner said boys below 18 years of age usually smoke and take liquor in the bars.

The plea said some unscrupulous people have now started molesting girls and women after consuming liquor.

The plea said the Urban Hub bar was only 19 metres from the school while the Bromfy Public House bar was within 27 metres.