Archive · 3 Oct 2026
Allahabad High Court Bars Hookah Service in Smoking Areas
The Allahabad High Court considered whether restaurants can serve hookah in special smoking areas.
Restaurant owners said they should be allowed to do so, including when they had licences or offered herbal hookah.
The court looked at a rule changed in 2017.
It said the rule now bars every kind of service in a smoking area.
Preparing and looking after a hookah counts as a service, the court said.
The court also said food-business licences do not give permission to operate hookah services.
It found that police can take action when they suspect violations of tobacco law.
The judges said protecting people from other people’s smoke is more important than a business’s interest in serving hookah.
The Allahabad High Court dismissed restaurant owners’ petitions challenging police action against hookah service.
It ruled that the 2017 amendment to smoking rules prohibits any service in designated smoking areas.
The court said the prohibition covers both tobacco and herbal hookah, because preparing and maintaining the apparatus is a service.
It held that food-safety licences do not authorize hookah operations and that police have powers under COTPA to search and seize tobacco products when violations are suspected.
The court said non-smokers’ right to breathe clean air and public-health concerns outweigh establishments’ commercial interests.
- Who
- The Allahabad High Court, ruling on petitions by restaurant owners.
- What
- It held that hookah service is prohibited in designated smoking areas under the amended smoking rules.
- When
- September 29; the article does not specify the year.
- Where
- Uttar Pradesh, India.
- Why
- The court interpreted the 2017 amendment as barring any service in designated smoking areas and prioritized public health and non-smokers’ right to breathe clean air.
Restaurant owners
State and public-health interests
Business rights versus clean air
Restaurant owners
Restaurant owners argued that restrictions on hookah operations violated their right to carry on trade, especially where they had food licences and designated smoking areas.
State and public-health interests
The state argued that non-smokers have a right to protection from passive smoking and that public health warrants restrictions. The court held that the right to clean air takes precedence.
Whether hookah counts as a prohibited service
Restaurant owners
Petitioners argued that hookah facilities were permissible and that herbal hookah or customer self-service should not be barred.
State and public-health interests
The court said preparing, assembling, lighting, and maintaining a hookah involves service, so the ban applies regardless of whether the hookah contains tobacco.
- Court
- Allahabad High Court
- Judges
- Justices Shekhar B. Saraf and Abdesh Kumar Chaudhary
- Decision date
- September 29; year not specified in the article
- Relevant amendment
- A 2017 amendment changed the rule to state that no service shall be allowed in a smoking area.
- Law discussed
- The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, and the Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules, 2008
- Scope of ruling
- The court said the prohibition applies to tobacco and herbal hookah service in designated smoking areas.
- Constitutional balance
- The court held that non-smokers’ right to clean air outweighs the commercial interests of hookah-serving establishments.