Closing time for hotels challenged

The first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose before whom the plea moved by R Ganesh Prabhu, a resident of Chennai, came up for hearing on Tuesday, directed the government pleader to get instructions on the PIL. The bench posted the case for further hearing to Friday. 

Submitting that the term “Day” is defined as 24 hours beginning at midnight in both the Tamil Nadu Catering Establishment Act, 1958, and the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishment Act, 1947, and it does not restrict the time for running restaurants and hotels, the petitioner said the 24 hours denote the time frame in which the catering establishments provide food to the public, regardless of time and their social status. Noting that in response to his RTI query on the provision of law used by the police to shut the restaurants after 10 pm had, the police had said the information sought does not pertain to their department, he said there was no law that the police could explicitly put forth to prove their bona fide in closing the restaurants and hotels after 10 pm. 

Citing the Chennai City Police Act, 1888, which empowers the police to issue only NOCs, the petitioner said the Act does not permit the police to govern the opening and closing hours of restaurants.