HC: Shut down illegal dhabas in a month

Tells MCD To Get Its Act Together On Eateries

Taking a strong step against unlicensed roadside eateries, the Delhi High Court has directed MCD to close down all illegal dhabas within a month.

Asking the civic agency to crack the whip against all dhabas in the Capital, which do not possess a license, the High Court said, “It is directed that all dhabas on that road and for that matter throughout Delhi, running without licence, must be treated equally and all dhabas which are without license, being run in the municipal area, must be closed down forthwith.”

HC added, “The action of closure of these dhabas be taken within 30 days from October 16, 2008 and an affidavit in this respect be filed in the court, alongwith the names of all responsible officials of each area, who are liable to take the necessary action.”

HC pulled up MCD for failing to act on its own. “At first instance, no dhaba should be allowed to run without a licence. There is no reason why these unauthorised dhabas, hawkers, road encroachers should keep encroaching on public land, endangering public health by greasing palms of the concerned officials,” the court noted, adding, “If officials have little care about the health of the public and about the encroachment of public land, none of these dhabas, hawkers would come up at the first instance.”

The court took a serious view of the MCD’s decision to only close six illegal dhabas instead of closure of all illegal dhabas in Mandoli area of east Delhi in compliance with the court’s July order.

The court order came on a petition, filed by a dhaba owner, alleging that MCD had adopted a ‘pick-and-chose’ policy while closing the dhabas, running without licence in the area. He alleged that six dhabas, including his eating joint, were closed by the MCD on the ground that they have been serving non-vegetarian food, whereas other dhabas were left untouched on the ground that vegetarian food was served in them.

Rejecting this argument of MCD, HC noted, “No distinction can be made out on the ground that one dhaba is serving vegetarian food and the other is serving non-vegetarian food. The distinction can be drawn between licensed and unlicensed ones.”
Source:- The Times of India 23 Oct. 08 P. 7 New Delhi

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