Take action against illegal pubs, eateries in Hauz Khas village, says HC

The Delhi High Court has said that if any pubs, restaurants or bars are running illegally in Hauz Khas Village area of south Delhi, action be initiated against them by the authorities after giving hearing to the owners or occupiers.

The direction by a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar came while disposing of a PIL by a lawyer who had alleged that over 120 restaurants and pubs were running in the Hauz Khas Village without any approved building plans or no objection certificate (NOC) from the authorities including the fire department.

"We hereby direct respondent 1 to 5 (Centre, Delhi government and civic bodies) to look into the grievances ventilated in this petition and if any illegal pubs, restaurants, bars, etc. are being run in the area, the action shall be initiated by respondent 1 to 5 in accordance with law, rules, regulations and government policy applicable to the facts of the present case after giving an adequate opportunity of being heard to the concerned owner/ occupier of the premises in question" it said.

The action be initiated as early as possible and practicable, the court said and disposed of the petition by advocate Anuja Kapur who had also alleged in her plea that the streets in the village were not wide enough for a fire tender to move easily in case of an emergency and very few restaurants had fire clearances.

The high court had earlier referred to the area as "a ticking time bomb" while hearing the matter due to lack of sufficient space for emergency vehicles to enter there in case of a fire incident or any other mishap.