You can dine out late; enforcers won’t let you

You can dine out late; enforcers won’t let you
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Can eateries in the city be kept open beyond the Cinderella hour? You will relish the answer: the rulebook says yes. It’s the law enforcers who are forcing the eateries to shut down by 11.30 pm.
The Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Rules state that any eatery without a liquor licence issued by the civic body does not have a restricted closing time. After giving much food for thought, the BBMP too seems to be wanting it.
This issue has again taken centre-stage after the high court upheld Hotel Empire Group’s appeal to keep the restaurant open till late in the night as against the police notice to close down at 11.30 pm. When Hotel Empire can, why can’t other eateries, the hotel industry asks.
The BBMP is game for it. It wants hotels in certain areas to be kept open till 1.30 am. This was even suggested at the empowered committee meeting chaired by the chief secretary sometime ago.
Going one step further, BBMP commissioner S Subramanya, in March, had written to the police chief asking his opinion on keeping eateries open till 1.30 am. Subramanya’s letter focused on two aspects — catering to people travelling in and out of Bangalore during late hours and discouraging street vendors and sale of unhygienic food.
“If we don’t have a law in place, it will become jungle law. To start with, we had identified three places where eateries could remain open till 1.30 am based on people movement. Where should people travelling into the city by bus or train eat at late hours? Naturally they choose street vendors. We want to discourage this and encourage healthy eating,’’ Subramanya told TOI.
The BBMP had identified areas in and around central bus station, railway station and Yeshwantpur to roll out the new system in the first phase.
The police have only this to say. “The BBMP’s letter has not come to my notice as I have taken over recently. If any hotel has a court direction, it is free to remain open. We will not come in the way of implementing the court order,’’ says police commissioner Shankar M Bidari. Red-faced, police withdraw notice
Bangalore: The police, under fire for issuing a notice to the Empire Hotels for functioning beyond 11.30 pm, withdrew the same on Thursday.
The court dismissed the petition filed by the management of Empire Hotels as “infructous”.
Former advocate general B V Acharya, who appeared on behalf of the petitioners, told the court that there was another notification of 1987 issued under the same Act which allows medical shops, hotels and other establishments to stay open beyond any deadline, and authorities have issued the notice without applying their mind.
The government said a committee headed by the chief secretary had issued a directive in which all shops and establishments should close by 11.30 pm.
The court had asked the government advocate whether this had been issued in the form of a GO and notified in the Act after calling for objections from parties including the general public. The government advocate told the court that the process to formulate that directive into a law is under process.
The court then found that the notice had legal infirmities and asked the authorities to either withdraw the notice or face an appropriate judicial orders the next day. Subsequently, the police withdrew the notice on Thursday.
What court says
The notice to Empire Hotel was issued under provisions of Shops and Establishments Act of 1976, but it overlooked the subsequent 1987 notification that exempted hotels, medical shops among others from its purview.
Hotel’s view
In the high court, Empire Hotel proved its point that “restrictions’’ of time cannot be applied to it as per the existing law. It quoted two notifications issued by the government after the amendment to Karnataka Shops and Establishments Act 1961 and proved that the second notification allowed eateries to work without restrictions on time — “Government of Karnataka hereby directs that any shop or commercial establishment coming under the jurisdiction of Bangalore City Corporation, shall remain finally closed at 8 pm on all days with effect from 1-8-1987. The existing opening hour shall continue to be in force. However, the said restriction shall not apply to medical shops, clubs, hotels supplying meals, loading and unloading lorry transport organisations, petrol bunks and cinema theatres’’. The hotel argued that it could remain open without restriction as per the July 28, 1987 notification.
No communication?
Says Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association president K N Vasudeva Adiga: “The law is laid down by the police to close down restaurants by 11.30 pm, though it is not specified in the rules. There has been no further communication on this issue.’’