Hookah Ban in Maharashtra

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Hookah parlours officially banned in

Maharashtra
By Local Press Co Staff - October 6, 2018

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Maharashtra government issued a notification imposing a blanket ban on hookah parlours earlier this week

Nearly seven months after introducing the bill to ban hookah parlours in the state,
the Maharashtra government issued a notification on Thursday imposing a blanket
ban on such establishments, effective immediately.

With the ban coming into effect, Maharashtra has become the second state in the
country to impose such a ban. Gujarat was the first state to ban establishments
serving ‘hookah’ or ‘sheesha’ in 2007.

The state government issued a notification two days back after a go-ahead from
President Ram Nath Kovind.

The bill to regulate hookah parlours, by amending the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco
Products
a
611(Prohibition and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA), was passed by both
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houses of the state legislature in April.

Under the amended act, violators can face a fine of Rs 1 lakh and up to three years
in jail. The offence, however, will remain non-cognisable, implying that no arrest can
be made without a court order.

Activists supporting the ban, however, remain skeptical about the directive from the
state government as it will still fall on authorities like local police and the civic bodies
to implement the ban.

Since cases of hookah parlours running in connivance with local authorities are
common, the success of the ban will completely depend on the will and
accountability of the enforcement agencies.

Need for ban:

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had called for a legislation to


regulate and shut hookah parlours in the state following the Kamala Mills blaze in
December last year.

14 people lost their lives in the fire, which the Mumbai Fire Brigade said was caused
due to flying embers from charcoal used in illegal hookah at Mojo’s Bistro.

Prior to that, the lack of regulation allowed hundreds of such establishments to


mushroom in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Navi Mumbai, and Nagpur.

Incidentally, the BMC had also banned hookah parlours in the city in 2011. However,
they started cropping back up after the decision was challenged in the apex court,
which struck down the ban in 2014.

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