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NEW DELHI, INDIA, December 16, 2003: The Delhi High Court on December 15 upheld the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) ban on all restaurants serving nonvegetarian food within a hundred meters of a temple. Justice S.K. Kaul observed that the ban should be enforced near all temples across the city. Six years ago, the MCD had revoked the license of a Patel Nagar restaurant located near Mahavir Mandir. The owner of this restaurant, Ashok Kumar, filed a petition against MCD the same year claiming that the organization had no right to do so, as the restaurant was being run within the legal framework laid down by the MCD. He got a stay order from the High Court in 1997 and continued running his hotel. Kumar claimed that he had been running this restaurant since 1975 and had renewed his license every year. He also claimed that the temple was built much later, in 1986. The MCD, however, claimed that the ban order had been passed in 1983. Additional MCD standing counsel O.P. Saxena said Kumar was only licensed to serve vegetarian food. Kumar’s counsel contended that three other restaurants in the same area were serving nonvegetarian food. The court directed the MCD to submit a report within four weeks on these other nonvegetarian restaurants in the area.

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