Restaurants owners welcome court’s decision upholding establishment of food street on Hospital Road
Zubair Qureshi
Restaurant owners and proprietors of street cafes have welcomed a verdict by the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench in which a petition against establishment of the Food Street on the Hospital Road has been dismissed.
In the detailed judgment, Justice Jawad Hassan of the LHC Rawalpindi Bench had held that restaurants could not be stopped from serving customers outdoor dining unless they violated the Covid-19 standard operating procedures.
The judge had observed that sit-out cafes had become a global phenomenon and creative use of street rows and sidewalks had been increased in different countries during the Covid-19.
Chaudhry Mohammad Farooq, the ARRA president, said the judgment would help restaurants revive their business. According to him, the restaurants will strictly observe the SOPs in the light of LHC’s direction.
In its verdict the court had ruled that the recent outbreak of coronavirus had further added to the street cafés and restaurants’ popularity because of the approved health advisory to maintain social distance as probable safety precaution against this Pandemic, ruled the court.
This caused grave hardship and inconvenience to all the inhabitants of the area, people visiting Cantonment Hospital as well as the commuters who visit or pass through the area, he further argued.
The petitioner had argued that at a time when the fourth wave of Covid-19 pandemic had gripped the country the respondents had blocked a section of the Hospital Road which led to the Cantonment General Hospital and other areas during the peak hours of the evening causing great inconvenience not only to the emergency and rescue services but also those visiting cantonment hospital, he added.
According to the petitioner while travelling from Haider Road towards the Cantonment General Hospital in the evening, he found a section of the road closed for vehicular movement.
On enquiry, he was told that the road was blocked by the respondents/Cantonment Board by establishing a food street.
This forced him to file a plea in the LHC. The court, however, did not agree with the arguments and dismissed the plea observing: “Six feet social distance criteria encouraged the culture of sit out cafes worldwide and increased its clientele rapidly.
Maintaining Outdoor Dining Area in a clean and sanitary condition is the foremost requirement for a sit out café and its utility stands further elevated because of the fact that it would be easier to follow social distancing guidelines in sit out cafes in comparison to the indoor cafes.”
