Bhopal/Jabalpur: MP high court stayed Bhopal district collector order to ban hookah bars in the district. The court also issued notices to respondents in the petition, including the state government, collector of Bhopal, police commissioner and municipal commissioner. A petition seeking stay on the operation of the district collector's order filed by proprietor of a hookah bar said that district collector had banned the operation of hookah bars under section 144 of the CrPC. Collector of Bhopal issued the order following the statement of additional chief secretary of home that a law would be introduced soon to ban the hookah bars. Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, senior counsel Naman Nagrath referred to a high court order in an earlier petition filed by restaurant & lounge association of Bhopal in which the court had said that section 144 could only be used in exceptional circumstances. Despite this, the Bhopal collector used his powers under section 144 of the CrPC to ban the operations of hookah bars in Bhopal district, which is undesirable, he contended.
Following preliminary arguments on the petition, the bench of Justice Vivek Agrawal stayed the operation of the district collector order till further orders while issuing notices to respondents in the case.
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