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Allahabad HC rules hookah service barred in designated smoking areas

By CAShorts DeskPublished Updated Sources: Allahabad High Court judgment (29 September 2026); Gazette of India; Verdictum; The Statesman

Allahabad HC rules hookah service barred in designated smoking areas
Illustration (AI-generated)

The Allahabad High Court on September 29 held that hookah cannot be served in designated smoking areas, dismissing petitions by restaurant owners. It ruled that a 2017 amendment to the smoking rules made the bar absolute, whether the hookah holds tobacco or herbs, and that the right to trade must yield to non-smokers' right to clean air.

Syllabus: GS2 · Constitution; Prelims · Polity & Governance; GS2 · Health, Education & Human Resources

Why it matters

A restaurant, cafe or lounge owner in Uttar Pradesh cannot treat a food licence and a separate smoking room as permission to run a hookah bar. Staff may not prepare, light or refill a hookah there, and the police can search, seize, confiscate and impose penalties under COTPA. The 'no service' rule, the court said, exists to protect waiters and other non-smoking staff, who would otherwise face passive smoking. Smoking in a designated smoking area stays lawful, and hookah smoking as such is not banned. The larger question is how far a business right can be cut back for public health: the court placed the Article 21 right to breathe clean air above the Article 19(1)(g) right to trade.

Prelims pointers

  • COTPA, 2003 Section 4: bans smoking in public places; allows designated smoking areas in specified hotels, restaurants and airports.
  • Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules, 2008, Rule 4: smoking areas must be segregated; amended Rule 4(3) bars any service there.
  • Hookah tobacco is recognised as a tobacco product under COTPA.
  • Article 19(1)(g) guarantees the right to carry on any trade or business; the court held it is not absolute where public health is at stake.
  • Article 21: the court located non-smokers' right to breathe clean air, free from involuntary tobacco smoke in public places, here.
  • Article 47, a Directive Principle of State Policy: the State's duty to raise the level of nutrition and improve public health; COTPA's preamble cites it.
  • Murli S. Deora v. Union of India (2001): the Supreme Court prohibited smoking in public places and called passive smoking an indirect deprivation of life.
  • Section 31 of COTPA lets the Central Government make rules by Gazette notification; the 2008 Rules and their 2017 amendment are such delegated legislation.

Practise a UPSC-style question

Consider the following statements about the Allahabad High Court's ruling of September 29 on hookah service:

1. It held that serving herbal hookah in a designated smoking area is permitted because it contains no tobacco.

2. It held that hookah cannot be treated as self-service, since preparing and maintaining it needs staff involvement.

3. It urged the Uttar Pradesh government to consider stricter anti-hookah measures.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. (a) 1 and 2 only
  2. (b) 2 and 3 only
  3. (c) 3 only
  4. (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

1 is incorrect: the court held that hookah service is barred in a designated smoking area whether the hookah is tobacco-based, nicotine-based or herbal, because the amended rule allows no service there. 2 is correct: it rejected the self-service model, since preparing and running a hookah needs trained staff and continuing help with coal, ash and tobacco. 3 is correct: in its epilogue the court said it expects Uttar Pradesh to notify stringent punishment for hookah service, as some other States have done.

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